Budget aster seedlings new york city1/20/2024 ![]() In Virginia, I planted a few plugs in late spring, watered them once, then forgot them as life got busy. Aromatic aster is usually at the top of my list for inclusion because it is one of the toughest and most vigorous plants I’ve planted. The leaves, when brushed lightly, release a pleasant fragrance, as the name suggests.įor these reasons, I include asters in every project allowable. ![]() Like many other asters, its blooms are a joy for people who are missing the vast flowers of summer. Landscape Value: By Matt Whitaker of WMWA Landscape ArchitectsĪromatic aster is one of our last blooming native flowers providing pollinator forage late into October, when there is little else available. ![]() It mostly reproduces via stolons, underground stems that emerge from the soil some distance from the mother plant and begin a new plant. Habitat Value: This species attracts many pollinators, including bees, butterflies and other insects, as well as small birds (feeding on the small seeds), and small mammals. While it has no major disease or insect problems, this species can be susceptible to mildew, often a result of limited air movement. This species requires a medium amount of annual maintenance and is often used as a ground cover. Contrary to the common name, this species’ flowers are NOT fragrant however, the leaves are, with a sweet, pungent smell. The showy flowers of Aromatic Aster have blue or purple petals with a yellow button-like center flower and don’t show until very late in the autumn – late August through October. This plant’s stiff stems grow to a height of about two-three feet (and similar spread) and branch repeatedly from the basal rosette of leaves. This herbaceous perennial prefers drier, poor soils and full sun, but it can tolerate moist or wet soils, so long as they are well drained. Recommended varieties include the vivid purple ‘Helen Picton’, the mildly garish ‘Harrington’s Pink’ and purple-red flowers of 'Septemberrubin' (AKA ‘September Ruby’).Scientific Description: Aromatic Aster – Symphyotrichum oblongifolium – is a member of the Aster (Asteraceae) family and is native to much of the eastern and central areas of the United States. This means a well informed assistant will still be able to explain how the New England asters flower first, from late summer into autumn, and are taller. The good news for gardeners but bad for pedantic botanists, is that many garden centres and nurseries are continuing to use the traditional classification, even though they know it’s technically wrong. Notably though, many were spring and summer flowering and unlikely to be in bloom around Michaelmas. Those species that remained as asters included the popular Aster amellus and the hybrid Aster x frikartii, as well as other less well known species. I come across it on the shore (and have even seen it on menus), where it thrives close to the high tide mark, oblivious to any name change. What was formerly Aster tripolium, more commonly known as the sea aster and our only native, became Tripolium pannonicum, the only species in its genus. My own personal favourite aster, ‘Little Carlow’, also migrated to the Symphyotrichum genus. The biggest upheaval for aster fans was to see the New York and New England asters, those regarded by gardeners as the archetypal Michaelmas daisy, reclassified as Symphyotrichum novibelgii and Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, respectively. The big shake-up, which saw a significant proportion of the 250-odd kinds of aster reclassified as new genera like Eurybia, Xanthisma and Doellingeria, came in 2015. This isn’t down to some species-specific plant disease that wiped out many varieties but because many of those deemed to be asters in fact belonged to different genera. Part of the wider Asteraceae family, which includes dahlias, helenium, rudbeckia and many others, the aster genus was once one of the larger botanical families but these days its numbers are more modest. The plant’s common name is Michaelmas daisy, because its prime flowering time is around the feast of St Michael the Archangel on September 29. The aster’s name derives from the Greek for star, in reference to its flower shape, which is best described as daisy-like. They flower profusely, in a manner that is surely more suited to summer, yet when all other herbaceous perennials are fading and dying, the star-like blooms of the aster shine brightly, taking on an incandescent quality in the twilight. ASTERS appear incongruous in the autumn garden.
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