The Wild & Wonderful White Wood Aster

Somewhat accidentally, I’ve been noticing an abundance of white wood asters lately. Maybe it’s just a really good year for them, or maybe they’re popping up at a time when I need to see a bright, cheery, daisy-like flower the most. Versatile and found on nearly every continent, asters have been a symbol of renewal, hope, and fidelity across florilateral cultures, or those that place reverence in flowers and the messages they are emblematic of (yes, I made “florilateral” up just now, but spell check didn’t correct me and it just felt right). From my own backyard in the shady clay-soil suburbs to the naturalized preserved lands with reclaimed and aggregated soil around Pleasant Run, it seems Eurybia divaricata is experiencing something of a boom, and deserves to be venerated as such.