This year's aster

I don't get tired of seeing purple New England asters during the brief late-summer-early-fall period when they blossom. This one had a brown skipper on it, rather than a bee that was in the previous post.  Not just another aster, but an aster with a pollinator. IYKYK. 

 

Someday someone will be interested in this picture

 Some twenty years ago, the powers that be began to build a four-lane highway to help take traffic off the then-current nearby two-lane street.  The bypass led to the demise of a junkyard that was within the area in this photo.  Recently, the township made public the information that a builder wanted to put in I-forget-how-many homes on this land.  

For future reference, here's how it looks as of late September 2026.  Wildflowers and asphalt in the foreground, a cornfield off in the near distance.  Some tall old trees on the margins.  Just beyond them on the right is a back road that used to connect to another back road a mile away.  Now it's a cul-de-sac.  

That other back road passed by a Catholic cemetery on one side and an open farmer's field on the other.  The field now contains an assisted living facility.  

I took video of the area before the construction started and the area turned from rural to suburban.  Recently I had the videotape re-recorded to video files, which I am going through and making notes.  Maybe someone will be interested in them someday.  

Below are New England asters that were growing just out of camera range to the right, taken a couple of weeks ago.  There are more of those on both sides of the road than there were a year ago.  

Here is one from the other side of the road, taken about a year ago.  That aster was growing on the north edge of property belonging to a Fortune 500 company.  They eschewed the typical landscaping, using native plants instead of grass at their world headquarters.

Something for everyone

 

Sedum plants are all over our property, in the front yard landscaping, in the back yard where there used to be a vegetable garden, and at the back of the property alongside the shed.  In the case of the latter, there are full-grown sedum on the mostly shady north side, and some little ones that began life as volunteers in the front yard landscaping and survived my amateur transplanting.

To one extent or another, they're all in the flowering mode that arrives in September.  The pink flowers attract pollinators from honeybees to bumblebees, from brown skippers and other small butterflies (all of which are visible at the top of the picture) to infrequent visits from a monarch.

Already the front yard plant, which gets abundant morning sunshine and attracts the most insects, has begun to lose color in the pink flowers.  All you can do is appreciate things while they're present.

Gathering place

Seen during a recent walk at an area park.  In one narrow grassy passageway between unmown areas, there's a groundhog, a rabbit, and closest to the camera, a squirrel.

 

Time for catching up

A cosmos and a pollinator in our back yard annual garden, taken about noon on the 11th.  More images to come; this has been a busy month.  The sedum in the front yard has had all kinds of pollinators, and it's also the season for coreopsis and asters, which you'll see in good time.

Spotted earlier today

At the hospital this afternoon for my wife's follow-up visit with a specialist.  We got there early enough that there was time to roam around the floor.  

I found that we were in the right place to use the glass-enclosed bridge over the road.  The bridge connects to another building on the hospital grounds, and contains several small tables that go along with a mini snack bar.

The view was good from the bridge, and at one point a spotted lanternfly landed on the outside of the glass.  I decided to take the picture because I remember how we were informed they were invasive and had no predators.  We were called upon to smash every one of the insects, which I resisted.  

This one being on the outside meant it was safe from humans, if not necessarily from predators, since as it turns out there are some.  Nature!  There's just no stopping it.

Reasons to be cheerful

Seen just before the end of a 20-minute walk around the neighborhood.  Thankful I can do it without any physical difficulty.  Other guys I know haven't been as fortunate.  

"I owe it all to clean living and a Happy Heart."