This is a first-rate perennial, and deserves to be far more widely grown.
My plant may be the hybrid commonly labeled "Ast...Read Moreer turbinellus" in commerce and given the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It's clearly not any of the asters I commonly see for sale.
It covers itself in clear blue-violet flowers (not magenta) for about three weeks in September into October. The well-branched stems are upright, stiff, slender, and wiry, and their architecture gives the plant a light and airy feeling. Though it isn't always necessary, I use a peony hoop placed early in the season for support.
Performs well in part shade as well as full sun.
This plant is vigorous but clump-forming, and is slow to spread. Fibrous roots radiate from a woody underground stem base (caudex). I find I need a pair of loppers to divide a clump.
This plant is sparsely foliated. The leaves are smooth and narrow, and give a delicate, fine-textured impression. Many asters have fuzzy or hairy leaves and suffer conspicuously from foliar diseases. If this one loses any leaves, it does so discreetly---I've never noticed any browning leaves. The plant looks elegant, billowy or cloudlike rather than underclad, and it looks good straight into winter.
This is a first-rate perennial, and deserves to be far more widely grown.
My plant may be the hybrid commonly labeled "Ast...Read More
This rarely grown aster is native to LA, OK, ARK, MO, NE, KS, and Iowa.