Aromatic Aster

Aromatic Aster
Aster oblongifolius 'Raydon's Favorite'
(ASS-ter) (ob-long-ee-FOH-lee-um)
Synonyms: Fall Aster, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
I took these Aster pictures during the first week of October and am just getting around to looking at them. I swear I should keep better track of things. It is sometimes fun to look back and see some ‘new’ pictures. There are few more on the roll that I will be posting this week. This first Aster is fairly tall at 36 inches, but it doesn’t flop over. The thing I like best about it is it really blooms late and for a long time. Of course, the color isn’t bad either kind of a blue with the tiniest bit of purple. They are easy to grow and hardy to Zone 4 (USDA). I have found that growing Asters requires good drainage. I think not having the drainage is the number one cause of failure for these plants in the garden, especially in the winter. They can take moist soil but have found them dismal in waterlogged conditions. I usually deadhead to avoid the not true seedlings and get new plants through division. I never knew the common name was Aromatic Aster I will have to test that out next year.


This is a very tall Aster that I don’t know the name of. This picture was shot in a friend’s garden, also in the first week of October. It was pretty and had a lot of flowers. The flower petals were slightly shorter than most Asters giving a slightly different appearance.


Double Japanese Aster
Kalimeris pinnatifida
(kal-ee-MARE-us) (pin-na-TI-fi-da)

This photo didn’t deserve its own post but I wanted to show it as a nice perennial that isn’t grown that much. The flowers are beautiful and bloom in late summer to the end of fall. I have also grown the variegated version of this plant. If you want something different try Japanese Aster. I am not sure why this picture came out wit such a dark background it was shot in the middle of the day.