09/04/2026
The goldenrod got all the attention this month, but look underneath it this week and you will see the purple starting. The asters are opening, and when the asters open, the last diner of the year is turning its sign around.
Asters and goldenrod are the closing kitchen of the nectar season. Nearly everything else in the yard has bloomed, been pollinated, and moved on to seed. What is left flying in September, the migrating monarchs, the late bumblebee queens, the small native bees still provisioning nests, will run almost entirely on those two flowers. A monarch drifting south on a cold morning is navigating diner to diner, and asters are most of the diners.
The clock on this is about six weeks. First frost closes the kitchen for good, and the asters know it. They bloom late on purpose, spending the whole summer building toward the one stretch when they have no competition and every customer left alive.
So if asters volunteer in a bed or along the fence, let them stand through October. Scruffy is the correct look for the last restaurant open. 🌸
