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  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Amanda's Garden Blog
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
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    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
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  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
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    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
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    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Astilbes
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Dahlias
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Garden Phlox
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, cobra lily
    • Laurustinus viburnum, Viburnum tinus
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
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    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
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    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
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    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
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  • Website Index

Fall Asters 

October's Plant of the Month
Amanda's Garden Consulting 

An Autumnal Purple Beauty

New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
Asters will flower with gusto if they receive adequate amount of sunlight.
New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
A New England aster seemingly cascades after some judicious pruning.
bees,pollinators,hummingbird plant,New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
Bees and other pollinating insects love the plentiful asters' plentiful pollen.
'Audrey' New York Aster,New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
'Audrey' is a dwarf New York aster. Its colour varies from light to dark purple from year to year.
New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
All asters have the same daisy-like flowers with multiple ray petals in purple and a golden central disk.
New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
Their simple looking flowers are quite intricate.
New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
Many fall asters are quite tall and need staking.
​Common Name:     Aster, Michaelmas daisy
Botanical Name:     Symphyotrichum spp., formerly Aster 
Family:                    Asteraceae           
Form:                      upright, spreading depending on variety   Genus:                     Aster           
Species:                   numerous species           
Plant Type:               herbaceous perennial   
Mature Size:            10" - 6', up to 4 feet wide, 
Origin:                      Great Britain, Europe, N. & S. America     Hardiness Zone:      USDA zones 4 to 8
Leaves:                     entire, simple, alternate, soft, green,                                        pinnate, pointed tip, linear 
Flowers:                    composite, yellow stamens & blue,                                           purple, white, or pink petals, blooms                                         from September through fall
Exposure:                 sun to partial shade
Soil:                           well-drained, soil tolerant           
Propagation:            root cuttings, divisions, cuttings, seeds
Uses:                        butterflies, bees, cut flower, perennial,                                      mixed borders, native, woodlands
Problems:
  • Tall asters tend to flop over so pinch back stems by a third in early June. This promotes bushier, shorter plants with more flowers.
  • Prone to powdery mildew especially when planted in too much shade combined with dry soil.
  • Will not flower if too shady.
Varieties & Cultivars:
There are 2 major types of aster: New England and New York. New York aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii) tend to be smaller than the New England types though some grow to 4 feet. They have thin, hairless stems compared to the New England variety (Symphyotrichum nova-angliae), which have sturdier, hairy stems and foliage.

The alpine aster, Symphyotrichum alpinus, has a mounded, upright habit about 1 foot high. Flowers are either pink, deep purple, white, violet and flower slightly earlier than other asters. Used in rock gardens, and for edging since it is short. Will self-seed as not a long-lived plant. Prefers a sandier soil than other asters.

​Comments:
Asters are often called Michaelmas Daisies because the flower at the same time St Michael’s Day is celebrated in England (September 29). There are many cultivars in lavender, violet, blues, and pinks. Since asters are either tall, short, erect, bushy, compact or spreading, correct selection is critical. Read those plant labels as they are wealth of information.

​New cultivars include ones that bear scented flowers and all asters attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators. They also make long lasting cut flowers. 
Aster novi-belgii 'Hazy Dark Pink' New York aster,New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
'Hazy Dark Pink' New York aster has raspberry pink fragrant flowers and only grows 12 inches tall.
'Hazy Dark Pink' New York aster,New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
Such pretty pink flowers of the Hazy Dark Pink aster.
New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
A low growing aster becomes ground cover if left to its own devices.
New York aster,New England aster,fall,alpine aster,Symphyotrichum novi-belgii,Symphyotrichum alpinus, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae,Michaelmas daisy,fall aster,plants for fall,autumn plants,fall flowers,purple flowers,October plant of the month,the garden website.com,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda’s Garden Consulting
Audrey aster and fall crocus (Colchicum) with a miniature yellow rose.

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  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Amanda's Garden Blog
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Seeding & Sodding Lawns
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Planting Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Houseplant Winter Care
  • Growing Food
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Tomato Troubles
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Harvesting
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Astilbes
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Dahlias
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Garden Phlox
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, cobra lily
    • Laurustinus viburnum, Viburnum tinus
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettia
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sasanqua, Winter Camellia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
  • Website Index