Rabbits may browse the plants.Īsters provide nectar, pollen and foliage for several native insects. Chrysanthemum lace bug is a new pest that sucks nutrients from aster foliage, leaving it mottled and sickly. They are also prone to rosy blister gall, aphids, mites, slugs and nematodes. Dividing plants every two to three years in spring will help keep them healthy and corral aggressive plants that spread by rhizomes.Īsters may be affected by verticillium wilt (a fungus in the soil), gray mold, powdery mildew, rusts, white smut, aster yellows, and many fungal leaf spots and stem cankers. To avoid an over abundance of asters next year, remove the seed heads before they fall to the ground unless you wish to leave a few stems standing for the birds. Pinching back the stems (removing a few inches of the top growth) before mid-July promotes bushiness and eliminates the need for staking taller species. macrophylla) tolerate deep shade but produce the best flower display with some morning sun. drummondii), white wood aster ( Eurybia divaricata), and bigleaf aster ( E. According to the Garden’s plant evaluation, woodland asters, such as blue wood aster ( Symphyotrichum cordifolium), Drummond’s aster ( S. It’s taking time for gardeners and the green industry to adjust to the generic name changes.Īsters are easily grown in average, dry to moist, well-drained and moderately fertile soils in full sun to part shade. Calico aster, a Chicago-area native, formerly known as Aster lateriflorus is now Symphyotrichum lateriflorum. For example, the native New England aster, formerly called Aster novae-angliae is now Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, a mouthful to be sure. In the 1990s, taxonomists reclassified the names based on new DNA research. Asters are in the daisy ( Asteraceae) family. The Latin genus name has changed from Aster to tongue twisters such as Doellengeria, Eurybia, and Symphyotrichum-baffling gardeners and professionals alike. The word aster comes from the Greek word for star-a nod to the flower’s shape, which has disk and ray florets. Visit the Garden's Dixon Tallgrass Prairie in autumn to view thousands of New England asters in bloom. However, I maintain the right to cut back your flowers before they go to seed.Learn more about the Garden’s aster evaluation. And while you might be a little weedy, you’re still kind of cute. So I hereby give notice: Calico Aster, you can have the Parkway Bed. Calico Aster up closeĪfter this year’s dry summer, I noticed that Calico Aster was actually the dominant Aster in the Parkway Bed, which gets absolutely no supplemental water. Like I said, it seeds like crazy, and it just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to my garden. My understanding is that there are a number of showier cultivars, but I haven’t tried them.Īnyhow, my attempted removal of Calico Aster set the stage for an annual struggle whereby I was constantly spotting and pulling new volunteers. I think the reason Calico Aster strikes some people as weedy is that the flowers are quite small, though they are enhanced by a mix of maroon and yellow centers. I mean that.) Calico Aster from more of a distance, looking more floriferous than usual. (In place of Calico Aster I planted other pollinator-friendly native Asters, so I did not feel guilty about this. The number of stings I got trying to remove this plant was, I suspect, good evidence of pollinator devotion. It is absolutely LOVED by many native bees and other pollinators (including a couple of butterflies for whom it is a host plant). Which is too bad, because Calico Aster has many virtues. It seeded everywhere, and grew to the size of a small shrub, so I decided to replace it. Not only was it kind of weedy, it was absolutely rampant in my garden. Not too long after that, I came to the conclusion that she was right. A few months later she confessed to me that she had pulled it out of her garden because it looked too weedy. Years ago, I gave a friend some Calico Aster ( Symphyotrichum lateriflorum) volunteers, along with a number of other natives.
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