Another Perfect Plant: Eurybia divaricata

The long flowering Eurybia divaricata (white wood aster) still blooming strong in December on the Pike Street Hill Climb in Seattle, a landscape recently renovated by Land Morphology.   

Previously known as Aster divaricatus (see Potentilla post for explanation of botanical name changing), this east coast native is a star in the fall woodland garden. Its short, unassuming form is covered in masses of white flowers at a time in the garden when other plants are already dormant. This versatile plant can be grown in wet or dry shade where its white flowers light up the understory.

White wood asters are one of fifteen plants the National Park Service is monitoring in an ongoing phenology study to examine the effect of climate change on plant habitats. Phenology studies cyclical natural cycles like flowering and leaf emergence – as the climate changes phenologists are noting and recording when plants bloom to get a better understanding on how climate change could affect agriculture, allergies, and ecological population dynamics.

Ongoing environmental projects that effect national interests have historically been monitored by the EPA. 

References:

Missouri Botanical Garden
National Park Service
National Phenology Network