{"id":7819,"date":"2015-10-22T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T16:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=7819"},"modified":"2015-10-21T23:13:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T03:13:50","slug":"new-england-aster-a-great-pick-for-fall-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/10\/22\/new-england-aster-a-great-pick-for-fall-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"New England Aster A Great Pick For Fall Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Honey<\/a>

Honey Bees Cover ‘Purple Dome’ aster<\/p><\/div>\n

\"'Purple<\/a>

‘Purple Dome’ Aster at NC Arboretum in Asheville, NC<\/p><\/div>\n

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New England (NE) Aster (Symphyotrichum <\/i>novae-angliae<\/i>), aka Michaelmas Daisy, is a long-lived native perennial from the east\u00a0shore west\u00a0to New Mexico (USDA hardiness zones 4-8). \u00a0Flowering time is from August to October. It is a favorite choice for prairie restorations, roadside plantings, and wetland sites.<\/p>\n

This large\u00a0aster species grow\u00a0up to\u00a06 feet high and stems and leaves are\u00a0covered with tiny\u00a0hairs. Basal leaves are alternate, entire (no teeth), and may grow\u00a0to 4 inches in length. Flower colors range from lavender, blue, pink, or white.<\/p>\n

From mid-August until early October, hundreds of blue purple to lavender flowers (to 1 \u00bd inches across) cover the plant canopy;\u00a0ray petals surround\u00a0a center burnt orange-yellow eye.\u00a0Sap from crushed leaves emits a strong turpentine smell.<\/p>\n

NE aster prefers full sun and well-drained, moist, humus-rich soil. This aster species does not\u00a0survive if winter soils stay constantly wet or soggy.<\/p>\n

For best\u00a0appearance tall varieties are best\u00a0pinched back once or twice by\u00a0mid-summer for\u00a0increased branching and more flowers. NE asters are good performers in containers. Plants should be divided in late winter or early spring to retain clump vigor every 3-4 years.<\/p>\n

Leading NE aster cultivar is ‘Purple Dome’ with lavender blue flowers. This cultivar is\u00a0very different in that\u00a0plants are naturally\u00a0low and\u00a0bushy. Purple Dome aster\u00a0grows 18-24 inches tall and up to 3 feet wide on thick and sturdy stems. Staking is rarely needed.<\/p>\n

Diseases include various forms of fungal stem-rot and its cause is usually traced to\u00a0wet soils. “Yellows disease\u201d, caused by a virus,\u00a0results in sudden wilt and death.<\/p>\n

Bees and butterflies frequent asters and deer stay away. Late\u00a0blooming asters are an important nectar source for these pollinators, especially Monarchs that are migrating to Mexico in late autumn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0               New England (NE) Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), aka Michaelmas Daisy, is a long-lived native perennial from the east\u00a0shore west\u00a0to New Mexico (USDA hardiness zones 4-8). \u00a0Flowering time is from August to October. It is a favorite choice for prairie restorations, roadside plantings, and wetland sites. This large\u00a0aster species […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,795,1218,707,747,749,778,674,806,627,625,843,1060,1059,601,630,646,754,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7819"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8220,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819\/revisions\/8220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}