Last Aster Blast

Thanks to the delayed, short-but-sweet desert monsoon season this August and September, the wildflowers in Santa Fe county have rallied for a glorious autumn bloom. The showiest of them all belong to the Asteraceae family, which includes the wild sunflowers loved by Georgia O’Keefe, as well as daisy-like flowers such as Western sneezeweed, giant shrubs like the chamisa which lines the roads, and the many species of purple asters that signal summer’s end and the arrival of fall.

Asteraceae used to be called Compositaceae, or the composite family. The flowers in this botanical family are not single flowers, but are actually a mix of two different types of flowers, the disk flower and the ray flower. The disk flowers form the brown “eye” of the sunflower, while the ray flowers are what we often think of as the petals.

Chamisa is a hallmark of late summer here in New Mexico. It’s a perennial shrub with silvery green leaves and stems that grows 6’ high and 6’ wide. The flower heads consist of many small composite florets. Have you ever been to New Mexico when the chamisa is in bloom? Then you know just how powerful the scent is! Some people love it, some absolutely despise it. To me it smells like a very feral Sauvignon blanc—all cat’s piss and honey. Hayfever sufferers beware!

Bees and other native pollinators adore the aster family, especially at this time of year when they are storing up food stores for the winter. This native bee has her panniers stuffed full of pollen!

The purple asters are having a banner year. This particular biennial species has been very dominant in our part of the county, growing up to 3’ high, and just laden with dozens of flowers. There are 3 genera of purple asters in New Mexico—Dieteria, Machaeranthera, and Symphyotrichum—and so many different species. It always makes me a little sad when I see the first ones popping out in late July and early August. Like the layer of chill underneath the warm afternoon breezes, purple asters mean winter is not far off.

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the wildflowers blooming here in New Mexico this week!