Okay, I realize I posted about visiting this particular powerline less than two weeks ago. But the floral landscape changes quickly this time of year, as summer's late-bloomers rush to flower before the first frost arrives. So my friends Sue and Tom and Dana and I returned to this northern Saratoga County site, eager to observe the changes just these past few late-summer days might have wrought.
We sure had a lovely day to amble slowly beneath a clear-blue sky, with day-time temps now cool enough that we could enjoy that sunshine on our shoulders. The goldenrods were now in their full glory, and the Little Bluestem Grass along the trail's verge had acquired its rosy late-season hue.
This time, we entered the powerline from the opposite end than we'd used last visit, passing by a thicket of Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra) now adorned with its bright-red clusters of berries. Even before this native shrub acquires its brilliant scarlet foliage later in autumn, it looks very colorful now, with its rosy-pink leaf stalks and still-green leaves.
It is definitely aster season now, and several species of white-flowered asters were in abundant bloom. I have difficulty telling the small-flowered white asters apart, but the occasional purple disk-flowers among the yellow ones on this plant strongly suggested that this was the Calico Aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum).
The crowded blooms, short narrow leaves, and the spreading tips of the floral bracts indicate that these are the small white flowers of Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides).
The stems of the Purple-stemmed Aster (Symphyotrichum puniceum) aren't always as purple as were the stems on this plant, but the large size and pale-purple color of the flowers were also good clues to its identity. They were also growing where the soil was damp. Another name for this native wildflower is Swamp Aster.
We don't have any other wild aster around here with large flowers as deeply and vividly purple as those of this New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae).
But then, the New England Aster can also bear flowers of a deep vivid pink! I do expect to find this color along this very powerline. And I was not disappointed.
On our previous visit here on August 25, we found dozens of the native orchid called Sphinx Ladies' Tresses (Spirantes incurva) in full bloom. Most of those plants had gone to seed now, but today we found a few younger plants still bearing fresher florets.
The bright-purple flowers of Slender Agalinis (Agalinis tenuifolia) were still amazingly abundant along the trail . . .
. . . but look what Sue discovered among its purple-flowered neighbors: A Slender Agalinis plant with pure white flowers!
Wow!
And another WOW! Vast numbers of Fringed Gentians (Gentianopsis crinita) glowing like cobalt-blue beacons amid the tall grass of a trail-side meadow!
Many of the Fringed Gentian plants held several stems of radiant blue blooms.
An amazingly beautiful wildflower! Is there any other native wildflower as vividly BLUE as this?
We also found some interesting critters along the trail. I have no idea what this brown, furry, soft-bodied thing was, munching away on the faded florets of a Short-toothed Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum). I'm hoping one of my friends can maybe get an ID from iNat, unless somebody already knows and can tell me in a comment.
Woolly Alder Aphids (Prociphilus tessellatus) are always a fun find. They do look really cute, with all that curly waxy stuff on their tiny bodies, and it's truly amazing to know that every one of these insects is a wingless female clone of her winged mother, each of which also produces clones of herself, and those clones produce more clones, so all of these are both mothers and identical sisters of each other. Later in fall, they will produce winged clones (and even some males!) that will fly off to find mates, breed, and winter over on the bark of Silver Maples. Far out! And since they don't really harm their alder hosts, we can feel free to find them nothing but truly fascinating and delightful. Especially in their final winged stage when they waft around as tiny "Fairy Flies," still bearing some of that fluff on their wee little butts. The original wingless population will then die and drop off the alder twig that fed them for their season.
Here's one of my file photos of the winged "Fairy Fly" stage of a Woolly Alder Aphid:
Some more cute little critters. Tiny green cutworms cutting their leaf and eating it. If I'd paid more attention to the leaf species they were feeding on, I might know which species of cutworm they were. But I only focused on the wee worms and not their food.
Another fascinating find! The eggs of a Green Lacewing, each one carefully deposited on a filament spaced well apart so that the eggs do not touch each other. I have read that Green Lacewing larvae are such voracious carnivores, the newly hatched ones would devour each other if they came into contact with each other. It is this trait that makes Green Lacewings such welcome visitors to a garden, since they make short work of any garden-pest insects. I believe gardeners can purchase these eggs (or the larvae) to place among their prized plantings.
I would miss so much if I didn't walk with my friends with better eyesight than I have. My friend Sue Pierce is famous among us for her sharp eyes, and I never would have noticed this tiny "fern ally" called Creeping Spikemoss (Selaginella apoda) sprawling across some trailside mud if Sue had not pointed it out to me. Spike-mosses are inconspicuous, spore-bearing, vascular plants related to the club-mosses (Lycopodiaceae). They resemble mosses and may be frequently overlooked. But not by Sue!
