peg,
It's hard to wait for them, but it's Well worth it when they are blooming while everything else is starting to go to sleep. Other than that, mine just keep growing a nice mound of green and then suddenly one day you wake up and that nice green mound is starting to show Lovely color. I will need to get more Asters next year. Now that I have kept this one alive for 2 years, I'm pretty safe.
Kelly
Aster time is here again.
JMorth,
That is a beautiful photo of the New England Aster. I thought I would try one of these plants just for the heck of it last spring. It is not as big as your plant but the blooms are all over in the same fashion.
Thanks to the good people of Illinois for giving us this native plant...
Chuck
Peg - I guess you could say they shoot up pretty good and then just sort of hang around until it cools off.
I got a better shot of this and think the one on the right is 'Wonder of Staffa' - what do you think?
This is Professor Kippenberg.
Chuck, again, I think I need Asters!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have so much "green" in my front yard,and admit i am not a blue flower fan (Williamsburg,VA to blame for that) but if there is pink, red and yellow ............ i am in! when do I plant and how do they fair /fare with mums?
Here's the Professor in my yard.
This is Aster dumosus 'Hein Richard'
Beautiful asters everyone! Todd - that last one is gorgeous!
Todd,
That is one Gorgeous Aster. I'll definitely be putting that one on my list to look for.
Kelly
This is beginning to sound like a one-liner joke: Hey everyone, look at my "as-ter!" hee hee
LOL
here's the Wood's pink I was waiting for
Is it really tight to the ground? Very nice!
Tam
Very nice Gram and Todd.
I was looking through some of my catalogs at these cultivars and just remembered I don't have any white ones - didn't see any posted yet either.
Do these behave like Mums in the yard beds? I mean , send up foliage and then bloom in the fall?
peg,
Yep, they are lovely when everything else is starting to go to sleep.
OK, so, I order them in spring ? or late summer?
Either one. I think I bought mine in June one year.
Al,
My aster alert is much deeper in color. I would say more like violet. Who knows, I planted a rose that was pink then turned tp purple later on. I think you saw it in the Dahlia forum.
It's also in my 9/26 picture - it's the left one in the pot
Thanks, it's always fun to have a new "goal" inthe garden.
Todd that aster does look really nice with the rocks.
Al is Alma in the ground? If so it makes a nice mound and doesn't seem to run, huh?
dmj - the asters spread too vigorously for us so we put them on a huge mound of turf taken from creating the vegetable garden many years ago. Now they can't escape and people think they're seeing 8' tall asters as they drive by. Many have stopped and asked what the huge blue "bush" is.
I have it growing through a peony ring, it has held up, I think next year I need to add a rebar stake to the back of it for a little more support. I gave away half that plant since last year too.
Asters, like chrysanthamums, like to take over the planet here to if given half an opprtuninity.
Pirl--also a good way to get the aters up at "eye" level too!
When it finally blooms I'll send photos. I'm going to plant some purple ones in between and hope it works out. If I add some pink I'd have a patchwork quilt of asters.
pirl,
That is one huge Aster! Can't wait to see it in bloom
My Alma Aster. Also my favorite!
The person who gave me this one had a last name of Hall. So, Hall's Purple Aster.
A blue volunteer.
Pirl - I always forget that aster go backwards with their blooming, so as long as you post it before Thankksgiving I'll watch for it.
Debbie - I don't have room for runners , zero tolerance program is in effect.
Mrs. Billy - you got a Halls too? He told me it was a one of a kind ;) Very nice, how old is your Alma?
Giggle ; )
I first saw Alma in a magazine in 1988. I tore it out and kept it. I got two in 1992. I wish they reseeded like the others. They seem to be slow growers as mine haven't expanded much.
Mrs. Billy
My Alma has grown pretty steady, I did divide it last fall and some in the spring also. It did seem to have some dieing woody center that might have benefitted from division You should give some to old man Hall.
He died. Wish he hadn't. He had a greenhouse and I was down there almost every day buying plants. Mine haven't developed a woody center yet. I can maybe cut them in half, but I wouldn't go smaller.
Finally, some aster action starting on the natives in the deep south (so deep we've had record-breaking heat the last 2 days) so obviously this plant is daylength related and not temp related. This is Symphyotrichum oblongifolium or aster oblongfolius and its native to Texas North to Montana and east to New York and down the eastern seaboard into Ala, Miss, and over to Arkansas. Zones 4-9; height 24", width 2'-3'. Just starting to break here.
Here's the "aster patch"--should look really good in about a week.
Al, you might recognize that terra cotta colored gallon pot on the far left. That's the sparkler--he's been enjoying full sun now for about 2-3 weeks. Looks really good....he's going in the ground in a week or so--as soon as I get some other 'chores' taken care of.
Debbie
Debbie - thanks for the info along with the pic's. We had a brief heatwave earlier this
week but now the temps have gotten into more normal for fall (high 50's).
Tam
I'm definitely not the sort of person that believes everything I see--but amazing difference in the number of blooms from this morning to this afternoon. I guess once they make up their mind to finally bloom down here--they bloom! This "aster patch" should be a solid carpet by Monday....
Well hey Debbie things are moving along for you. Speaking of oblongifolium -no October Skies showed up on this thread, I have thought about getting that one. Did you get any late flowers on Sparkler?
Sparkler is still in the pot and I didn't put it out into the sun until 2-3 weeks ago. I'm gonna give it a mild 8-8-8 tonight and see if I can't coax it into a late bloom.
I thought 'October Skies' was the cultivar name they sell oblongfolium under these days....in which case that's what I have. Its a great plant for down here, puts up with full sun, 100% humidity, and over-abundant water since its right under 2 small cypress trees and about 25' from my Louisiana Iris bed. It just seems like you have to wait forever on it.
I've got a few other late autumn surprises yet to flower for the year; I'll post them when it happens. Mainly a "cuphea hedge" that will look like a 'hedge of candy corn candy' about Halloween. Trick or treat? ;)