Odd Flowers and a Frothy Pest

I took a picture of the work of a spittle bug on the unopened buds of one of the Campanulas. I have these bugs on a whole host of my perennials. I really should be washing the insects off the plants.

I have been gone a few days, thus the lack of posts over the Canadian long weekend. I just got out in the yard this morning to do some weeding and monitoring of growth. My Report: The weeds are thriving. Actually, I have learned a major lesson about perennials. Just because they may flower in their second year, this doesn't mean that they are at full size yet. Thus, I have some huge perennials at the front of the border, dwarfing those behind them. For example, the Campanula persicifolia. It looks awful to me. I'll forgive those huge perennials if they'd only do something positive, like produce some blooms soon. This really demonstrates the saying "First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap". Next spring, I may be shuffling some of those plants to the back of the border.

Here is a picture of my Aster alpinus "Goliath" in full bloom. I notice that a few flowers (they seem to come from the same plant) have this cluster of rays arising from the yellow center of the flower. Does anyone know why this happens? Should I be developing a new double-decker alpine aster?