Leaves crunched underfoot as Geordie Elkins and Jesse Hubbard strode through an oak-hickory-maple forest in Redding, Connecticut, less than two hours from the bustle of New York City. It was a warm, picture-perfect day in early October. Elkins, director of operations at Highstead, a land conservation organization and arboretum, looked down at the GPS readings on his smartphone, searching for the locations of the black cohosh (Actea racemosa) plants that he had discovered in July when their spikes of white flowers waved in the breeze. The phone led the men to 15 plants. They carefully clipped off rattle-like tips of dry fruit capsules and placed them in envelopes, taking care not to remove more than 20 percent of the seeds from any plant.

Elkins and Hubbard, who also works at Highstead as its grounds and facilities coordinator, were collecting seeds on behalf of the Ecotype Project, a two-year-old project organized by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut (CT NOFA). Through the project, a diverse group of scientists, farmers, plant nursery owners, landowners, and others are working together to restore native pollinator plants, and by this means, to strengthen the state’s ecosystems and local agriculture. Although Connecticut still has many rural areas, the pace of development has accelerated in recent decades, leading to a precipitous decline in native plants (335 species, or 19 percent, are on the state’s endangered species list), as well as bees and other pollinators that rely on them.

The project’s name reflects its goal to create a seed bank that preserves “the wild, genetic diversity of place,” explained Sefra Alexandra, coordinator of CT NOFA’s Pollinator Health Initiative. Native plants and seeds originating in the Midwest, for example, are not identical to the same species growing wild in Connecticut. They may bloom at different times, and be out of sync with local insect pollinators. Neither will they be as well suited to grow in the local environment.

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Blue Wood Aster is an important source of nectar and pollen for pollinators in late summer and fall and it is also a host plant to 12 species of butterflies and moth caterpillars so a wonderful plant to have in your yard!   

Tall, blue-violet-flowered aster of woodland edges and meadows; flowers profusely from late summer throughout autumn, in sun and partial shade; attracts late-season pollinators; found from Nova Scotia, west to Minnesota, south to northwest Alabama.

The Aster Family is one of the most populous in the world. Globally there are 1,300 genera of Asteraceae and more than 21,000 species. In North America, there are at least 120 asters with more than 54 indigenous to the eastern United States. The Asteraceae colonize 95 pages in Flora Novae-Angliae, the most current botanical manual for New England.

It is fortunate for insects, birds, and mammals that Maine has such a feast of flowers late in the season. Sustenance- nectar, protein-rich pollen, and seeds- is as important at this time of year for those preparing to migrate, hibernate, or actively face the approaching winter, as it was in spring for reproduction.

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