6 Weeks of Summer?

I keep a wildflower picture diary. It’s relatively easy to do--every time I take a picture it gets downloaded into a dated file. So when I go back in time, I can see when the geraniums or paintbrush or lupines started to bloom. Every flower seems to have a regular cycle and it seems to keep that cycle no matter what. This year, the cycle seems a bit off. The cone flowers are blooming early while the geraniums are late!

I’m sure all the flowers have a blooming cycle that is dependent on the weather, but one flower even has “local wisdom” that indicates it is a precursor of the change of the season. That special flower is the aster...and that’s the flower I do not like to see in bloom in the early summer.  Last year the asters were in bloom on the 27th of July. This year they are blooming right now! In fact I saw some asters blooming on the 2nd of July and did not think much of it...and then I remembered...asters are called the last flowers of the summer. Local wisdom says when the asters start to bloom there are only 6 more weeks of summer! We have a good crop of asters in bloom right now! If the local wisdom is correct, fall will arrive early (mid-August) and winter will soon follow. I hope that “local wisdom” is wrong!