![]() Many species and varieties, both wild and cultivated, are available to gardeners. An exuberant, wide border full of self-sown asters, late-season hardy mums, monkshood and other pollinator favorites, with coneflowers gone to seed for the birds.Īnd across the street – no reason for birds or pollinators to leave Nancy’s yard.Asters are a group of perennial flowers that belong to the Asteraceae family, also called the daisy family.A small strip of lawn, organic of course.You can hear the bees buzzing from indoors. Pinched back ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ aster smothers weeds.The view from Nancy’s home office in late October Tall and last of all – blooms in November.Nancy hesitates to call anything deerproof – but this one is.Tough as nails – will grow anywhere, even under trees.Nancy cherishes this hard-to-find purple aster.Very similar to ‘October Skies’ but it blooms later, extending the season of bloomĪster oblongifolius ‘Fanny’ ( Symphotrichum oblongifolium ‘Fanny’).Shown in photo above, cut back and compact, buzzing with bees.Will cross-pollinate with the species for a range of color from pale blue to whiteĪster oblongifolius ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ ( Symphotrichum oblongifolium ‘Raydon’s Favorite).Uses it in woodland gardens – a great colonizer, always welcome.Delicate, airy pale blue flower clusters.Her new love – “More bees than any aster I’ve ever seen”.Nancy calls it blue, I call it purple, we compromised at blue-lavender.Īster cordifolius ‘Avondale’ ( Symphotrichum cordifolium “Avondale’).Aromatic aster – between tough little leaves and fragrance, deer resistant.Blooms September into mid-late October).Good way to extend season of bloom – cut some and not othersĪster oblongifolius ‘October Skies’ ( Symphotrichum oblongifolium ‘October Skies’).Straight species overlaps with it if she cuts back in time.Shorter and more intense blue than species.Pinches where she wants it, lifts and moves seedlings to wild areas – tall and leggy – Always enough, always misses a fewĪster laevis ‘Bluebird’ ( Symphotrichum laeve ‘Bluebird’).Comes up in the wild, weaves through milkweeds and goldenrods, shrubs.Seedlings are easy to spot in the garden because they have smooth leaves.They start early (August) if she forgets to cut back in June.Her mantra: “If you’re not walking out of the garden in June with tarp-loads of debris, you’re not brave enough.” NONSTOP BLUE ASTER BLOOMS FROM AUGUST TO NOVEMBER Aster laevis ( Symphotrichum laeve) “I’m not staking these puppies – It’s too much work and too hard to do gracefully.” She pinches them back – by half – in June to encourage branching (more branching = more blooms) and keep them from becoming tall and flopping all over the place. Nancy has a succession of big blue asters blooming in her garden beds from late summer right into November. When I spoke with Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, owner of Natureworks organic garden center in Northford, CT in October, she said “My whole yard is blue right now – all the asters are overlapping, it’s been such a long, mild fall.” Plants may flop though, especially in rich soil. If you plant asters as they grow in nature, amongst native grasses or perennials, you won’t even see their lower stems. ![]() People complain that native asters are “leggy” and have icky-looking lower leaves. A blue aster by any name is just plain beautiful. Botanical names are now Symphotrichum and Eurybia now, but we can still call them asters. Birds, Bees and Butterflies Love Them Tooįall is aster time, and asters are one of the most important pollinator food sources.
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