Aster Admiration

Elisabeth — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:51:00 GMT

Those of us who love our gardens often spend lots of time thinking about color combinations, trying to solve the riddle of "what goes with what." Even if you find the answer, you still have to worry about whether your color coordinated blooms will open at the same time. In the fall there is a great solution to this conundrum--plant asters.

Asters, those free-flowering members of the daisy family, are always color coordinated. Plant any aster with any other aster and the colors will get along. Plant any ten different asters and the colors will still look wonderful together. Why is this? Because all asters, except those with white blossoms, have greater or lesser amounts of blue in their color profiles. Even the dusty pink and rose varieties veer ever so slightly towards blue (rather than yellow). Since the white asters go with everything anyway, all asters work together.

This means that you are free to plant an entire sunny corner or bed with a mixture of tall and short asters. Planting the short ones in front of the taller varieties also covers up the tall asters' one flaw--ugly stalks. You can also grow several different varieties of aster in a large pot for an impressive fall display.

So worry about color matching in some other part of the garden. Let asters set you free.

Butterflies and Asters

Elisabeth — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 16:44:00 GMT

Butterflies love asters. We are well into fall now, and my gardens are full of both asters and butterflies. Among the latter are lots of the white cabbage types that have been around since early spring, monarchs preparing for their long journey south, yellow sulphurs and scads of tiny brownish-orange butterflies whose names I don't even know. About once a day a red admiral or two pops through, flying quickly and never stopping anywhere very long.

The butterflies land on the few flowerheads left on the butterfly bushes, then move on to the hundreds of small, daisy-like blossoms adorning the various asters. The colorful flyers seem especially partial to the taller aster varieties, maybe because those statuesque plants are closer to the sky. The lower growing asters, like those of the Woods series (Woods Blue, Woods Pink, etc.), also see their fair share of butterflies, skippers and pollinating insects.

Many asters have a tendency to self seed, which is a good thing. It's easy enough to grub out or transplant the surplus seedlings in the spring and summer, and having an every-increasing supply of these beautiful plants is a blessing in the fall.

There will come a day, not long from now, when the asters fade and the butterflies are suddenly gone, and the growing season will begin to draw to a close. Thinking of it makes both plants and insects seem even more beautiful.

Growing Wise : asters

Aster Admiration

Butterflies and Asters