Annuals: Annual Choice Trend, 1 by sempervirens

sempervirens wrote:
Gita, lovely aster.
I grow mine with native grasses, Switch and my favorite Little Blue since they are host plants for the skippers who then literally cover the asters along with bees.
In the front I pinch them hard so they are around 2 ' but in the back I let them grow and they top out at about 5'.

I can't say I've been to the local big box stores for plants lately, especially after reading on DG a warning from one of the members that the
butterfly weed? (now I don't remember which milkweed was being offered) was treated with chemicals to prevent monarch cats from eating it.
Duh, isn't that why we buy it to support the Monarch population.

Back to asters, it's strictly mums being sold here, and ornamental cabbage, barely a pansy or aster in sight.
The only aster I could find last year was a cultivar called "Fanny", very pretty but this is the second time I bought an aster that was bred for looks alone.
Not an insect will touch it. Now I wonder if it also was treated with chemicals but it doesn't attract bees even in the second year.

In this photo the asters are growing street side at under 2' with sedums.

My favorite annual is fleabane, an airy small daisy. Might be considered a weed by some but it adds a native charm to the garden and does appear on it's own.
It just needs to be culled and moved to the right places and it blooms all summer. Free is a good thing.