Aster, Flat-Topped - Doellingeria umbellata

Doellingeria umbellata, also known as Flat-Topped Aster, is a perennial wildflower native to Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Plant reaches 4 to 5 feet tall in moist conditions and flowers summer to fall with large, flat clusters of white blooms. Blooming mid-summer, earlier than other asters, its large clusters of flowers are available to a much wider variety of pollinators, including long- and short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, beetles and butterflies. Flat-Topped Aster is the host plant for Harris' Checkerspot (picture 2) and other butterfly larvae.
 
Birds will eat the seeds, but deer and rabbits will eat the foliage, and protection may be necessary while the plant gets established. 

Best in full sun and wet to moist soil, it adapts to partial shade or medium soil and will grow in muck, clay, loam or sandy-loam with adequate moisture. Pairs well with New England Aster, Joe Pye Weed, and Cutleaf Coneflower.