Native Plant of the Week: New England Aster ~ Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

New England Aster ~ Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (Aster novae-angliae)

New England Aster is a wonderful perennial native for late season color. We added some to our landscape last fall and it's flowering for the first time this year.

I associate this Aster with the southern Great Lakes region and northeast, but it does occur here in Minnesota.

Flower color can range from a medium purple/violet to pink. Blooming from late August and sometimes continuing into early November.

I thought I would see more bumble bees visiting the flowers but their preference right now is the Showy Goldenrod in our landscape. One Spotted Cucumber Beetle was crawling on the flower rays.

New England Aster can get extremely tall, especially in moister soils reaching heights over 6 feet, but shorter in sandy, well drained soils.

The leaves are relatively short and narrow, hairy and clasp the flower stem. The stem is also hairy. The lower leaves on a tall cluster of New England Aster will brown out and die off. Plant some medium height prairie grasses around this Aster such as Little Bluestem if you want to hide the unattractive lower stems.

This native perennial is tolerant of partial to full sun, sand to loamy soils. Plant in combination with Showy Goldenrod for an outstanding contrasting color display in the late fall.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

New England Aster is native to (mostly) eastern North America. See map for range

Ruby Crowned Kinglets ~ Regulus calendula

Ruby Crowned Kinglets ~ Regulus calendula

This morning I watched six Ruby Crowned Kinglets foraging for insects in our Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) trees.

One of the smallest birds in our area, they look very warbler-like with their olive/yellow coloring.

They have a white eye ring much like some vireos but the give-away is their small size and needle-like beak.

These Kinglets are migrating south, nesting just north of us in northern Minnesota and Canada.

It's fun to see them arrive in spring, and again this time of year as they forage through our native shrubs and trees in search of insects. Insects are their primary diet.

"Ruby-Crowned Kinglets prey on spiders, pseudoscorpions, and many types of insects, including aphids, wasps, ants, and bark beetles. Kinglets usually forage in high tree foliage, hovering and pecking in order to glean insects from the surface of leaves and branches." (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Many of the Kinglets I saw this morning were males. One would be foraging for insects and a second would fly by and try to displace him from his choice place. A chase would follow, and the male would return back to the same place, now agitated. When males are agitated they raise the bright red crest feathers on the top of their heads.

These red feathers are hard to spot otherwise, when they lay flat against the male's head.


Kinglets never stay still for long. They're constantly on the move in trees and shrubs, looking for insects above and below leaves.

Keep your eyes open for more bird species passing through. I saw several warblers last week, and this afternoon Fox Sparrows were foraging on the ground in our woodland leaves.

Native Plant of the Week: Black-Eyed Susan ~ Rudbeckia hirta

Black-Eyed Susan ~ Rudbeckia hirta

This native perennial (sometimes biennial) deserves a place in any sunny landscape. A very versatile plant, it will grow in dry to wet soils in prairies, roadsides and woodland edges.

The bright yellow-orange flowers open in late June, continuing to flower and often rebloom into the fall months.

The dark brown central disk iscomprised of many florets and is surrounded by 8-21 yellow-orange rays.

The whole flower is two - three inches in width making it extremely showy.

The leaves are very coarse to the touch as they are covered with hairs, along with the flower stalk and flower bracts.

In our landscape, Black-Eyed Susans are short-lived but they do readily reseed themselves so we always have some. If you plan to add this native to your landscape, it  works well to buy seed because Black-Eyed Susans will often flower the same year as seed is sown.

Native bees like this female Long Horned Bee will visit the flower for pollen, along with smaller Sweat Bees.

Insect larvae will feed on the central cone and bore holes in it. Several of the flowers in our landscape will have a single ray floret folded over the top of the cone to create a protected feeding area.

Beetles will also visit the flowers, a Soldier Beetle and Blister Beetle pictured here. Read more about this Blister Beetle's lifecycle here.


Black-Eyed Susans are native to central and eastern North America. See map for range.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Discovering Native Bees

Read about some of the native bee discoveries I made this year on my post at Native Plant Wildlife Gardens.

Native Plant of the Week: Showy Goldenrod ~ Solidago speciosa

Showy Goldenrod ~ Solidago speciosa

Showy Goldenrod is one of my favorite Goldenrod species. Flowering now in mid-September, its tall upright stature and bright yellow conical flowers make it a great addition to any medium to dry site in full sun.

On our gravel hillside, it reaches heights of about 40", in more mesic soils it can get close to 5 feet tall.

Image © Katy Chayka
Minnesota Wildflowers

A native of prairies and woodland edges in sandy to loamy soils. It is rhizomatous, but forms nice, manageable clumps.

The leaves are equally attractive as the flowerheads, dark and glossy green. "In the upper half of the plant, there are often small leaves that develop from the upper axils of the primary leaves; they have a wing-like appearance." (Illinois Wildflowers)

It's also a favorite of bees right now. Many species of Bumble Bees, Mining Bees and Honey Bees visit the flowers.

A Jagged Ambush Bug is waiting patiently waiting for its prey (Honey Bee) to get in 'arm's reach'.

Showy Goldenrod is native to eastern North America, see map for range.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

We just returned from a trip to Upper Michigan where we hiked in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. This is an amazing park, close to sixty thousand acres of wilderness and almost half is old growth forest (the largest track west of the Adirondacks).

A large escarpment runs through the park running parallel to Lake Superior giving spectacular views of the interior of the park. In the shallow soils along the escarpment we found Bearberry, Blueberry, Serviceberry, Northern White Cedar, Common Juniper, Red Pine and Pin Oak.

In the small rock crevices Three Leaved Cinquefoil, Common Yarrow, Harebell and Goldenrod (possibly Ontario Goldenrod) thrived.

Views from the highest point in the park from an overlook looking north towards Lake Superior.

Wintergreen and Bunchberry were common woodland natives, as well as Partridgeberry, Hepatica and Jack in the Pulpits.

Large clusters of Cinnamon Fern and Sensitive Fern were along many of the hiking trails in the old growth forests growing under Sugar Maples.

There are many waterfalls in the park, as many small and large tributaries flow from the hilly terrain into Lake Superior.

Large Hemlocks create a densely shaded understory limiting the number of herbaceous plants. Wild Sarsaparilla, and Bluebead Lily were found in the spongy forest floor beneath the Hemlocks, as well as several types of wood sedges and maple saplings.

A large white pine which we estimated to be 13 feet in circumference towered above the Hemlocks at the top of a ridge by the Presque Isle River.

View of the Presque Isle river, with its tannin colored waters and many waterfalls.

The slate bedrock in the river had circular holes worn into it from the river.

The other predominant tree species in the old growth forests was Yellow Birch. Often unrecognizable due to their size as the distinctive peeling bark is less apparent.

Native Plant of the Week: Bottle Gentian ~ Gentiana andrewsii

Bottle Gentian ~ Gentiana andrewsii

Bottle Gentian has one of the most interesting flower forms of native perennials. The balloon like blooms are comprised of 5 blue (sometimes white or pink) petals that are neatly folded together forming a closed flower. There is a small opening at the top, and bumble bees will force their way down the flower in search of nectar.

But why go to so much work when you can just chew the ends of the flower off for easier access. Many types of insects have creative ways to rob nectar or find short cuts.

Bottle Gentian habitat includes low-lying moist areas in prairies, woodland edges or riparian edges in well drained soils and full sun.

We planted some tiny seedlings two years ago in our landscape where the soil stays fairly moist from downspout runoff. They are flowering for the first time this summer.

"Bottle Gentian plants tend to lean over as if under too much weight from the flower cluster, though the cluster tends to stay erect." (Minnesota Wildflowers)

In early June, the young leaves were covered with Four Lined Plant Bugs who were busy piercing holes into the leaves. It left leaves with many brown spots but as the plant continued to grow, the new leaves covered the short-lived damage.

The leaves are oppositely arranged and quite glossy.

Bottle Gentian typically begins flowering in mid September, continuing until mid October. Like many other natives this year, it started to flower earlier at the end of August.

Bottle Gentian is native to northeastern North America. See map for range.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Fall Mining Bees

I was surprised to see Mining Bees (Andrena spp.) recently on goldenrod and aster flowers. Until now, I've associated Mining Bees with early spring, as they are one of the first types of native bees I observe emerging in the spring.

But it turns out there are many species of Mining Bees that specialize on late season natives.

"Several bees are oligoleges of Solidago spp. (Goldenrods). These species include: Andrena hirticincta, Andrena nubecula, Andrena placata, Andrena simplex, Andrena solidaginis...)" (Illinois Wildflowers)

Mining Bees females carry the pollen on the "upper part of their hind legs, seemingly in their 'armpits'." (Attracting Native Pollinators)

They are also usually quite hairy, perhaps to regulate their body temperature in early spring and late fall when they're most active.

Mining bees nest in the ground in sandy soil. Their nests are parasitized by Cuckoo Bees (Nomada spp.).

If you have Aster or Goldenrod species in your landscape, be sure to be on the lookout for Mining Bees visiting the flowers.