Aster means “star”, and so the days of autumn hereabouts are full of stars.
New England Asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) are arguably the Queens of this genus.
I grow the straight species, but there are are hundreds of cultivars. Just looking at the straight species in our garden provides a clear explanation why: there’s such wonderful variation in flower color. Blue, purple, pink – and many shades in-between.
A less endearing quality is the tendency of New England Asters to flop. This is a tall plant, growing up to 6′ or more in garden conditions. I cut some back in May and let others grow to their full height. However, even the ones I cut back need staking at some point in the summer.
New England Asters, and Asters generally, are an important source of late-season food for pollinators, including Monarch Butterflies. All of our Asters are buzzing with bees right now.
Possibly my favorite Aster is Short’s Aster (S. shortii). No disrespect to the botanist Charles Wilkins Short, but this flower could do so much better in the name department. Something with a little pizzazz, at least for the common name. Something that recognizes the astonishing masses of light blue flowers that positively smother this plant in September and October.
Other virtues of Short’s Aster: it is very shade tolerant, has never required supplemental watering in my garden, and is not fussy at all as to soil type.
One of my books on native plants warns that White Woodland Aster (Eurybia divaritica) can be super aggressive. That may be so in a warmer, wetter climate, but here this plant has established and spread at a very deliberate pace. It is spreading, however, helping to fill in for the ‘Purple Sensation’ Alliums that bloom in May and then start to die back.
Crooked-Stem Aster (Symphiotrichum prenanthoides) enjoys a damp spot in the garden. So does New England Aster, of course, but Crooked-Stem is a much more modest size.
I like the deeper blue flowers of Aromatic Aster (S. oblongifolium). I have had mixed success with this plant, though, because it really wants full sun and medium to dry soil. This fall I will plant some where it should get both. It is compact enough that you can plant it at the front of the border.
Some people say Calico Aster (S. lateriflorum) is weedy-looking. I guess they are right. Plus, plant it in rich garden soil and it will grow as big as a medium-sized shrub. I pulled out most of the Calico Aster some years ago (the bees objected and I got several stings). I’m still pulling it out, though I let it stay in some of the more challenging corners of the garden. “Go ahead,” I tell it. “Knock yourself out.” Of course, this is one reason why I have to keep pulling it out elsewhere. I will try to remember to cut it back before the flowers go to seed.
Here’s a view of the Front Garden from the sidewalk. The Brown-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba) provides some contrast to the Asters’ blue and pink. I’m going to pull out some of the Rudbeckia and replace it with Stiff Goldenrod (Solidago rigida), so we have more contrast as to shape come next fall.
Asters are endearing flowers, they remind us that the garden is not done yet. They also are a reminder of colder days to come, but that is not their fault.
gardeninacity 
I’m disappointed that the Aromatic Aster needs full sun — that is some wonderful blue there but I probably don’t have the right place for it. Thanks for the Aster Tour!
Yeah, I’ve been frustrated trying to find a good place for it. A lot of these Asters are pretty adaptable but that doesn’t seem to be the case with this species.
They are indeed beautiful, and so is your garden.
Thanks!
Your asters look great. I have a little white aster that has taken over an entire huge border. I used to be able to keep it at bay but a couple of busy years with attention elsewhere and it is out of control.
Some of the asters will do that – certainly the Calico Aster will.
The front garden looks wonderful! It is aster season around here as well – dozens of New England Asters are dotting my gardens this year, more so than usual.
They really help define the season in our gardens.
One of my favorite things about asters is the way so many species’ centers turn from yellow to red. Especially with the white ones, it really adds interest. We have a few native asters, but the most stunning display I’ve ever seen was in Arkansas, where S. lateriflorum (calico aster) had gone absolutely crazy and filled the banks of a wooded stream. It looks much like your white woodland aster, and sources say they’re easily confused.
I smiled at your title, too. A starry, starry day clearly can be as beautiful as a starry, starry night, especially with a garden palette like yours.
I think that the changing center colors is especially true of the Calico and White Woodland Aster.
Fabulous, they are a real joy at this time of year.
Yes!
I enjoyed your tribute to these beautiful plants so much I’ll forgive you if I have an ear-worm to contend with for the rest of the morning.
So sorry about that.
You have a wind range of asters. Fun that your tribola is still blooming with the asters.
Yeah, it just keeps blooming week after week.
Such a lovely array of asters in your garden. You have a very nice succession of bloom throughout the seasons, Jason. Well done, and quite beautiful!
Thanks. Though the different seasonal blooms are not evenly distributed among the beds and borders. The Front Island Bed is definitely for mid-summer to fall.
Asters are gorgeous fall flowers. Love them!
Me too!
Beautiful stars! A sparkling way to end the growing season.
Cosmic, you could say.
Nothing beats the purple and gold combo in the garden.
My New Englands, at least that’s what I think they are, are just starting to bloom in the backyard. I have to reacquaint myself with identifying all the others, some of which have been blooming for a month already. I love fall and your garden in it.
I agree!
Lovely. I am a huge aster fan myself. Sadly, they get in eaten in my garden. But I’ve kept the Tartarian Aster since I love it so much and it’s one of the best butterfly and pollinator plants out there. Better foliage than New England aster, too.
There’s a huge patch of Tartarian Aster at Chicago Botanic Garden, and it really is a beauty. Damn those rabbits! Or is it deer in your case?
You have quite an assortment. I too love asters (as do both the rabbits and the deer). I recommend Tartarian Aster. Not native but the pollinators love it. Best fall butterfly plant for me.
Looking at your photos reminds me that each year around this time I wish I had planted Asters! My fall gardens are suffering this year, it must be the lack of rain. I’m relying on the natives I’ve allowed to fill in. Thankfully they’re doing okay and the pollinators are glad, too. I think I’ll be looking for this Short’s Aster, thanks for sharing.
Short’s Aster is a little hard to find. I think you have to order it from an online native plant nursery.
Just lovely, how they must light your garden.xxx
Fall isn’t fall without them.
you have an astronomical number of varieties of asters.
At the very least, an astonishing number.
Jason you have a remarkable variety of asters here and they all look wonderful.
I love how that blue just pops .. I am on the look out for short, compact types, but I am also running out of sunny spaces .. however I am determined to have more of them, so I can see their smiling faces in Autumn. I am waiting on my toad lilies to smile soon as well !
Well, even if they aren’t compact, most of these asters respond well to pruning, so you can control their height that way. White Woodland Aster is compact and likes shade.
I really like the Short’s Aster, too. I’m very jealous, because every Aster I’ve planted has been consumed by rabbits. I’m getting to the point where all I’m going to plant outside of fencing now is Alliums and plants that repel rabbits. It’s just too expensive and frustrating to plant anything else in this garden.
You’re scaring me a little. So far the rabbits mostly leave the asters alone. Of course that used to be true of the Virginia Bluebells, then this spring the rabbits ate about half the Virginia Bluebells.
Calico aster ‘sort of’ looks weedy, but it is better than fleabane; an I think fleabane has its place.
I don’t do much with fleabane, I mostly see it in pictures.
You aren’t missing much. I happen to like fleabane because it grows wild where it can; but it is not as pretty as real asters.