Wood's Blue Aster...becoming a BIG problem...help!!!

Ge, I don't cut them to the ground, I cut them down by half.

I winter sowed various asters including a "blue." Not certain if it is the same cultivar. I didn't realize that they could be invasive, so I am glad that you mentioned it. I wouldn't mind if they got huge near the black walnut tree (good luck with that, I know). I'll keep them in pots for a while, assuming they germinate, to see how they behave. I had a purple one that didn't come back this year. It stayed small. I thought it was well behaved, maybe it was unhappy. It may have gotten too wet.

Marti, someone on Dave's must have seeds if you check the lists. It would be gorgeous and low maintenance if you had room.

I just checked Bluestone where I got my Woods Blue and Woods Purple.Mine are the short version only 12 inches tall.My Purple dome is 18 inches tall. What a relief.

Has anybody had a similar experience with October Skies aster?

The short lavender one that I have which expands aggressively is the only one that doesn't need trimming for height. It is also the earliest blooming of all of them. Like mums, another reason to cut them back is to delay the bloom so that you will have a nice display in late September and October.

LOL, Pippi - don't get nervous about all of them now!

Thanks. I'll have to add to my want list.

found a picture of my Woods Blue,its the short variety.
Its in the center at the back

Interesting.

Just reviewed the difference between Wood's Blue Aster (part of the garden-derived, maybe hybrid, series of cultivars) and wild Blue Wood Aster (different species). Maybe this has also confused other gardeners.

Have used Wood's Pink and Wood's Purple, but not Wood's Blue, though have some ready to plant in spring. Will be cautious, though have certainly not found the other two invasive in our location.

Find White Wood Aster an exceedingly useful plant (latish bloom time, great in semishaded places, very hardy, compact, nice low arching shape, easy to dig out chunks with a spade, etc.).

I had some woild white asters appear in the garden last year. I let them stay. We'll see what happens this year. GE, that aster looks just like mine.

Thanks for the warning and info on wood's blue aster. My "blue aster" from a swap could be anything. Thanks to your warnings, assuming it wintersows well, I will keep it in a pot for a while to see how it behaves. I can always divide and "regift" it to friends with larger yards.

We're safe from the invaders.Mine doesnt get taller than 12 inches.

The height is fine, Jo Ann, but it keeps spreading in a garden setting - not on a hill.

My spreader is a short one too.

Maybe the problem is with us and where we plant them. Maybe they're supposed to get wider and wider and be divided more often. Too many times we all seem to want a plant that gets to a certain size and just stays that size.

I could tolerate it if the plant bloomed all summer but to take up a five foot circle and not bloom until October is too much for me. I love it way in the back, on top of the hill, where it is and where it will stay.

I will chip away at the edges of mine when they get too big around.
I have a GF who is just waiting for me to start to mdivide plants.
She wouldnt spend 2 cents on a plant if she could help it. Its just as well she doesnt take care of what she has either so I govern what I give her. A nuiscence spreader is just what she needs.
"I give a evil chuckle"

LOL~~!

LOL!

Ha!

Happy birthday, Jo Ann (ge1836)! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1067867/

OM G Pirl.Thanks Its a terrible day here.
I continue to pick at a PeanutButter pie and tell myself one of the kids is eating it.
My Horoscope for today
"You might believe that you know what you want today, but your current desires may be confused by inconsistent reasoning. Something or someone very attractive could be stimulating unfulfilled fantasies that get in your way of seeing what's actually happening. Don't set yourself up for discouragement by talking yourself into an ill-advised action. Wait and see how you feel about it tomorrow before doing anything silly."

Hmm...have you been eating those "vegetables" you once grew or were they the kind people smoke?

Have a great day and apply the horoscope to Elvis who would have been 75 today! Hard to think of him as having gray hair!

I was never much of an Elvis fan.
Nixon either they both share my month for birthdays.
Now David Bowie is another matter.

Oh yeah, and he gets better looking and sings better with time.

I actually got to hold his hand throughout a song once - something I'll never forget, although I couldn't tell you which song it was, lol!

I'm so far out of it that I don't even know who he is.

I share my birthday with Mussolini. Glad not to hold his hand!

Bowie is a rock star from the 70-s and 80's
Really out there.I only got half of what he sang.

Stormyla,
The White Wood Aster I have was bought as an Epic Plant. I just move it around now. I don't know if or how this differs from wild White Wood Aster
which is apparently close to the northern limits of its range here.

I just checked... I ws'ed some Woods Purple last week. Do you think it will be invasive like the Blue??

it's a New York Aster.

I have the purple dome and like it... it's REALLY tall. last year I had a Doe munching in it, still bloomed like crazy - all the way til frost. I will be dividing it this year.

SunnyBorders, My wild white Aster is a species Aster, not a hybrid. It's the weedy type that grows in the woods. Here's a photo of it. Not much to look at, but if it turns out not to be invasive, I'll let it stay. Some folks were telling me that it is the only known food source for a particular type of Butterfly. I had an incredible array of Butterflys this year and want to encourage more types.

I understand SusanLouise. Your gf is probably wonderful in every way except for gardening. I have a friend who adores silk flowers, perfect for her. Silk flowers and stonecrop. If we were all the same it would be boring. Her home is much cleaner than mine, I am far from perfect.

I have neighbors that deserve a "nuisance spreader" but I can't think of anything "better" than the maple tree already growing thru their shrubbery, the poison ivy everywhere else. A soundproof hedge that thrives under black walnut trees would be fab, a moving truck in front would be better.

Thanks Garden quilts You got my drift right away.
I have known this woman since we were little girls.She is brilliant and has a fabulous memory and is a wonderful artist even tho she is a bit flakey when it comes to the real world.
Thats why we make a good match.
I am adventurous and after 3 years of intense therapy I am a strong confident staple person. She depends on me for clarity and steady views from time to time. While not being dependent on me to the point of suffocation. We compliment each other.
I guess I didn't put my post remark well enough.
Susan Louise: I do like this woman.
There are just certain lengths I wouldnt go to for anyone.
I am no fool and wouldnt waste time and prescious strength digging for a useless task, at 74 I have to live smarter or life will be shorter.

Loved your "moving truck" line, Garden Quilts!

Maybe we all have friends who simply aren't truly involved in gardening (to the point we are) but it's when they want a piece of a plant and we give it to them that we hope and expect they'll care for it, which is not often the case.

I hadnt wanted to go on with a defense of my attitude toward this GF but here is a "for instance"
For years she has complimented me on my gardens and whined that she couldnt figure out why mine were so lush and hers were so puny.
I would reply that I use compost and fertilizer and when she complained about bugs attacking her plants (red lily beetle) I said you need to spray.
She said"ohh but that costs money"
I have sent her Lily Bulb collections that she leaves out to dry up for months and wonders why they dont grow for her.She begged for some OP's and I dug them with a warning the root cuttings had to be planted that day.
I saw them in their plastic bag the next week all turned to mush.
I plant containers for my friends as gifts for any oversights of etiquette and thank yous for remembrances from them to me and hostess gifts, and birthday presents.
She is included in the group of 10 because its a birthday present to her and I have the assurance she cant neglect the annual plants and kill them .
This year she tried to make more coleus for her garden by cutting back the ones I planted in the container,you guessed it,she cut back too far and it took all summer for the container to fill out and she whined about how she couldnt understand why her container wasnt doing as well as her friends.The friend was probably watering on schedule too.
I just wont give her perennials any more even tho she asks. These requests from her are fleeting wishes she has and so if I dont take transplants to her she forgets the request and I home free on that point.
She just becomes preoccupied with other things.
This is the end of my defense which I rarely do LOL

I think you're so wise to see the good in your friend - brilliance is something to be cherished in this world - and learning to work around her deficits. After all, plants are fabulous things that we all would be poorer without, but it's not like she's neglecting an animal or a child. And a fellow artist... well.

As to the evil thoughts - I think they're there in all of us. When those thoughts are treated with a lot of humor, they give a person the room to have likes and dislikes without expectations of others to conform to them.

Actions, however, need to come from a place of kindness and integrity.

And plants - well, I guess you never give away what you can't stand to lose!

That about sums it up.She has many fine attributes and has put up with my quirkes.

What would life be without our quirks??? Last year I gave a friend some lamb's ears. Later in the summer she came to tell me those plants were the biggest nuisance because they attracted bees. I told her to cut the blooms if she didn't like the bees. She did and now she is very happy with the plants.

She is always cold and I am always hot. I have to put my heat up very high when she visits, and I have to keep going out onto the deck to cool off. Last summer she was bemoaning the loss of her Iris to the voles. When I received a nice box of Iris from a generous DGer, I gave her 6. Whenever I asked her where she planted them, she told me it was too hot out to plant anything!!!! She said this too me while she was sitting on my deck sipping wine and watching me work at my potting bench.

We over look a lot to stay friends.There has to be something we are getting out of the friendship or I wouldnt bother.
We agree on Books,(i am not a reader )
we agree on music and movies
We agree on men
We dont agree on child rearing.
There are more plusses than minuses so thats good.
Its been 65 years cant just toss that off.

This message was edited Jan 14, 2010 11:30 AM

Oh geez, no!

I will just say...I started this thread for an aster issue...period. I really don't care about personal issues and comparisons!