Asters can save the day in late summer and early autumn when everything else in the garden looks tired or dusty.As other perennials are starting to slow down, asters are winding up to add hints of necessary color.They come in a wide variety of colors and sizes, are easy to grow and bloom predictably and reliably.They come in white, pink, purple and blue, they are tolerant of most soils, they bloom when most everything else in the garden is done and they are prolific bloomers.In cool areas, plant no later than early fall so the roots have time to develop before freezing temperatures arrive.Make sure your pot has a drainage hole and that there is easy access to water nearby.Pruning: Pinching back stems, or deadheading, several times before mid-July helps to control plant height, promote bushiness, and encourages blooming through the entire season.Description: Arrow-Leaved Aster (Symphyotrichum sagittifolium) or Blue Wood Aster is a somewhat weedy, herbaceous perennial that is native to rich, dry to moist woodlands, forest margins, fields, dry meadows, bluff bases and stream banks, It is a stout, leafy plant that typically grows on smooth, branched, upright-arching stems to 2-5 feet tall.Stems are topped by dense, small-leaved panicles of daisy-like asters (each flower to ¾ inch diameter) which bloom late summer to fall.Description: Big Leaf Aster (Eurybia macrophylla) is noted for its large basal leaves (4-8 inches wide).It is sometimes planted in wooded areas more for its foliage effect than for its fall flowering which is sometimes sparse.Flat-topped clusters of flowers with violet to pale blue (rarely white) rays and yellow centers.Description: Crooked-Stemmed Aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoides) has narrow leaves of clasp zig-zagging stems adorned by flowers featuring 20-30 pale violet petals surrounding yellow centers.One of the shorter Asters, it prefers wood edges, stream banks and damp thickets.Branching clusters of stalked flowers at the top of the stem and arising from upper leaf axils.Stems are topped by dense, small-leaved panicles of daisy-like asters which bloom late summer to fall.Description: Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) occurs in open rocky woods, prairies and along roads and railroads.A bushy, somewhat compact plant with many-branched stems which typically grows 1 to 3 feet tall.Ray flowers are usually white, but infrequently blue or pink and center disks are yellow.Description: New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) occurs in moist prairies, meadows, thickets, low valleys and stream banks.It is a stout, leafy plant typically growing 3-6 feet tall with a robust, upright habit.Features a profuse bloom of daisy-like asters with purple rays and yellow centers from late summer to early fall.It is native to dry open places in the central plains including woods, bluffs, prairies and glades.Description: Sky Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense) is native to prairies, fields, wood margins and rocky slopes .Daisy-like flowers with blue to blue-violet rays and yellow center disks bloom in many-flowered panicles in September and October.Description: Smooth Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) typically occurs in prairies, rocky glades, dry open woods, roadside banks and thickets.Stems are usually unbranched with variable, mostly toothed, smooth, bluish green foliage.Small flowers with violet blue to purple (sometimes white) rays and yellow center disks appear in open, loose, panicle-like clusters in autumn.Description: Stiff Aster (Ionactis linariifolia) is a low growing, native aster grows in clumps 15-20 inches tall and is typically found in acid soils in pine-oak or pine-hickory woods, ridgetops, upland slopes and glades.It grows in loose clumps with dark, sprawling, sometimes zigzag stems up to 2.5 feet tall.Small but abundant flowers have white rays and yellow to red center disks and appear in flat-topped, terminal clusters in late summer to early fall.
Edward R. Forte
Author
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