Hello All,
I built a butterfly garden filled with mainly host and nectar plants for butterflies and birds. One of the plants was a 'Woods Blue' Aster. Well, after 3 months last summer of what seemed to be "no growth" above ground, turned out to be a swelling of growth underground of a dense network of very long new shoots that just started to expose themselves above ground late fall. I was in tears when I saw this. Many of the new shoots are about 2'+ away from the spot I planted the single plant back in May. I chose to dig it up in July...because, at the time that it wasn't even going to blossom in the fall at the time. When I dug it up in July, I believed I had gotten all the roots dug up when I extracted the plant to replace it with another type of Aster called 'Purple Dome'...which worked out great! I wish I had purchased that one 1st instead of the Woods Blue Aster...Grrrrrrr.
So now, the 'Purple Dome' is surrounded with the Woods Blue in all directions...and is now encroaching all the other perennial plants root systems...like Rue, Joe Pye Weed, Rudbeckia, and Coneflowers...AGH!
I just don't understand why this plant is not on an invasive plant list...if it was I would not have purchased/planted it. I spent so many hours during last winter "doing my homework" before choosing the plants I did last Spring...
Please, anyone, is there a way to rid myself of this Aster's roots underground?
I would hate to have to use a chemical, but maybe I can isolate the shoots exposed above ground and cover so the birds and butterflies don't come in contact with it until it dies. What do you suggest?
TIA!!!!!
Susan
Wood's Blue Aster...becoming a BIG problem...help!!!
Thanks for the heads up on Woods Blue.I dont have a solution for you but planted 3 a few years ago. They havnt reacted like yours yet but I will watch the thread and my garden for a problem like that.
I am short of room here and dont want anything too invasive.
Aw, Susan - sorry to hear that, I understand your disappointment. Do you remember where you got it from? You might want to send them a note.
I would use Round Up the second you see new growth on it. You don't have to spray, you can use a paint brush or cloth dipped in it. Another trick is to take a box, open up the bottom and place it over the offending plant and spray inside the box.
As aggressive as this plant sounds, I wouldn't mess with it any more - I'm afraid you'll find it intertwined with your other plants and that really complicates everything. I'm not a big fan of chemicals either, but I wouldn't want all of your hard work to be wrecked because of one super-thug.
great bottomless box idea Pagancat
Thanks, Jo Ann!
Susan, Roundup shouldn't hurt the birds and butterflies. I don't have that problem with my Wood's Light Blue. But I do have an Aster in a different bed that would take over the world, if let go. I usually dig up the outside edges of those asters spring and fall to control them. I do give the ones that I dig up to other gardener along with a warning. So far, after 4 years, no one has complained about it ruining their garden.
stormyla,
Next time you need to thin you aster remember me. I've got plenty of room for it.
Marti
Marti, I will probably do it in late May or June. Send me a dmail around that time. It is a lavender, not purple, one with gold centers. It stays around 18" tall.
I wonder if there is a difference between Woods Lite and the Woods blue in question.?
My plants were put in last year so Its hard to tell if they will invade or not.
GE, The amazing growth on this Aster was evident in the early spring after the first fall planting. Keep your eye out around April and May for signs of aggressive expansion. I thin it twice a year every year. I keep it because it puts on the most amazing show every fall.
I put on my reminder list for May/June, stormyla.
I'm sure we'll talk before that.
I know about the show. Mine is about the only late color anywhere except for Mums.
I have Purple dome in another garden. Its fabulous with the sedum Matrona.
No Matrona pic but Purple dome is going strong. This is a spreader. I will use uour advise and thin back this spring.
I can offer a home for any unwanted plants, cutting or thinnings. I have almost an acre to plant and on Social Security so limited income.
That's a lovely color, GE. I confess that I buy most of my Asters from the local produce store, Produce Junction. They are usually 2 quart pots and sell for 2 or 3 for $5. The taking over the world one, came from one of the mail order nurseries. I think it is a Nova Begi.
GE, This is Wood's Light Blue. It's very tiny here, about 2 weeks after planting from Big Dipper.
Marti, Here's the Aster that wants to eat Philadelphia. This photo was taken at the end of Sept. I had chopped it down to only 2 feet wide in May. As you can see, it's over 4' wide again.
I will have to move ALL the WBlues then they are too close to JI's
All of these Asters came from the produce store. I had to cut them down, by half in July to keep them at this size. This photo was taken the first week in October.
I love it! I ahve the perfect place for it and it can just grow wild there.
GE, So far, I've not seen the Wood's light Blue do any excessive expansion. Just watch it before you go moving them all. I think that JL's want cool moist feet and the Aster may help with that. That's a good question for Polly.
This message was edited Jan 4, 2010 1:59 PM
Asters prefer dry soil compared to JI's. Our asters started out slow and then took over a garden so I dug them up and we planted them on top of a 4' sod hill (from the vegetable garden) and now they have no place to go. It's nice in October.
I still want it. I've marked a place for it in my garden design and it can have a large area to take over.
Pirl, That looks lovely. What are those large white blooms in front of the asters? A wetter soil may keep the asters from spreading so much. I don't think most people have trouble growing them, rather they have problems containing them. You seem to have found a good solution, but what keeps them from spreading at the bottom of that mound?
They were dahlias, Mary, which should have been staked but weren't.
The magic that keeps them from crawling down the hill is a shovel.
Since we wanted to clear away enough of them to double the size of the brick path I did cut them back (and hauled away the earth) all the way back to the stick you see on the right. This is the view from the back. In front I now have a bed of Louisiana irises.
LOL Pirl, That's some pretty serious shoveling. But at least it shouldn't have been too compacted. What a lovely spot for an Iris bed. I have 1 strangely formed Iris which I suspect may be a Louisiana Iris. It must have come as a mix up from a co-op. The PNW Iris Growers co-op two falls ago had over half of my plants mixed up, so I now have 10 or so NOID's. I'll have to see if I have a photo of that strange Iris.
Pirl, Here it is. Does this look like a Louisiana Iris? Sorry to be OT folks.
The leaves do look very similar to Louisiana irises and so does some aspects of the flower but not others. I am not an expert by any means. Perhaps the Iris forum could identify it for you.
Wow, Pirl, you do have a knack for enhancing the beauty of any photo with your camera. I will have to post it over in the Iris forum, I thought you might know.
Aperture F2.8
ISO 100
Pirl, your expertise is wasted on this dummy. I use the auto shoot setting. Someday, when I have more time, I'll learn how to really use the camera.
This message was edited Jan 4, 2010 6:35 PM
Very few of us learn a new camera all at once. I bring along the manual when we travel to force myself to try another feature. On January 1st I took photos of the Blue Moon using the night setting for the very first time. I've had the camera almost 6 years!
I'll take that suggestion seriously later in the month. I'm going down to MD for a weekend of Eagle watching. That should be a perfect opportunity to try out some of the other features.
Boy, I'm glad you showed us these pictures and posted about this. I had Purple Dome on my want list..what is JI stand for? Maybe I'll think twice about adding asters..Maybe others will see this and show us theirs or tell about their experiences. That's like the Wild Ageratum that showed up last Spring in my beds. Beautiful but boy were they invasive. Have no idea where they came from but they were very pretty. Pulled them up in the fall but they had long skinny roots..what do you want to bed, they will show back up in the spring? It was such a pretty shade of blue, I just kept it, but kept trying to thin them out.
Our next door neighbor has the wild ageratum and it does look lovely. I had no idea that it could be such a garden thief.
Maybe potting up the asters in a cement pot, set on a cement driveway, would work.
JI = Japanese iris. Hegira pictured here:
Not all asters are aggressive. These ones are 4' tall and never expand. I think these are Aster Frikartii.
This message was edited Jan 4, 2010 8:32 PM
I have October Skies Aster on my want list..does anybody have any of these in their flower gardens and is it invasive? Seems like so many perennials have the same daisy like petals.
Stormy, I'm betting (although I could be way off) that your iris is a Spuria. Now, don't ask me exactly what that means, but they seem to have the bars at the beginning of the ... falls? (Big expert here!)
LOL, Sheryl, when I first saw it, I thought it was an Iris from Mars. They seem to think it's Iris virginica which is another species iris. Somebody just sent me the wrong one. That's always the problem with buying anything dormant. I know that spurias and flag iris are common in the south, but I never see anybody around here growing them.
Ah, well - it was worth a try!
And yeah, those spurias were from Phoenix. I should have brought them with when I moved, but it didn't really occur to me.
Pippi, of all of the Asters that I grow, so far only one is invasive. Meaning that it will spread by runners or reseed aggressively. Like mums, you either have to give Asters a lot of room to grow, or cut them down by the beginning of July to keep the shape and size in check. I was behind this year and did not cut them back until the 3rd week of July and by then it was a big cutting job. But they still bloomed profusely and grew back to pretty substantial sizes.
Thanks for that tip Stormy
The deer munched the tips of my Purple Dome and they bloomed really well.I will shear back mine in July.
Do you cut all aster varieties down to the ground in July?