Philadelphia fleabane
Erigeron philadelphicus
This daisy-like flower is an aster: the flower is really a composite of many smaller flowers. The genus, Erigeron, includes scores of species, but I’ll take a chance and say that the one pictured here is Philadelphia fleabane, because of the way the leaves are wrapped around the hairy stems and because of the abundant number of tiny ray florets (they look like white petals) that make up the flower head.
I know it is considered by many to be a “native weed”, but just look how lovely it is on a sunny day! I love the way it unfurls from a tight pink fist into a spray of white and yellow sunshine! Compare this fleabane to a shorter, stouter one, Robin’s Plantain.
I love this plant and let it grow freely in my garden. It is just beautiful in amongst the pink cosmos, blue larkspur, and yellow tickseed.
Dozens of these just popped up in my yard–for the first time! I had no idea what they were, but figured it out with the help of this website. Thanks for the “search by color” function, and thanks for sharing what is obviously a labor of love.
Yes, they are now everywhere in my yard too. Considering this is mostly considered a weed, it is really quite a pretty little flower. I love having names for things, so I’m glad you could use my blog to find the name of an unknown plant. That’s perfect! Thanks for your comment and kind words. I really enjoy the process involved in each of these posts, and an added bonus is getting some feedback from readers now and then too 🙂