Adding Asters to Your Garden

In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw discusses how to extend the blooming season in your garden by adding asters.

Topics covered in this week's episode:

• Gardens don't have to stop blooming in September. We can extend the season to October and November.
• It’s very important to have because the pollinators still need something blooming.
• There are over 30 different species of asters.
• They have a huge variety of growing conditions, so there is an aster for whatever challenging growing condition you have.

Here are the five asters discussed:

• New England Aster, Symphyotrichum nova-angliae
  • The showiest, and likely the one you’re most familiar with
  • Native to most U.S. states and provinces
  • It is large and very showy, with a bright cozy blue flower with a yellow centre
  • The leaves on the stem are densely arranged on the stem
  • Prefer soil moist and they can grow in part shade
  • One of the larger varieties: up to six feet tall
• Whitewood Aster Eurybia divaricata
  • Delicate looking flowers
  • Grows in dry shade which means it makes a wonderful addition to the shade garden
  • Not super showy like most shade plants
  • Found in Ontario in dry, deciduous forests
  • So that's exactly what we want in our garden. If you have maple trees, pine trees, or something like that where the soil underneath is very dry and it's very shady, then this is something worth giving a try to
  • Only gets two to three feet tall
• Smooth Aster Symphyotrichum laeve
  • Similar to the New England Aster, although hence its name, it has leaves that are very smooth lavender and blue
  • Has a daisy-type flower with a yellow centre
  • Blooms from August to October
  • A huge pollinator for butterflies and a larvae host for the pearl crescent butterfly
• Heart leaf Aster Symphyotrichum cordifolium
  • Lavender to light blue
  • It is one of the latest ones to bloom and actually goes into Nove