Ms. Eudora’s Garden Tool Blog

As fall approaches and your garden slowly starts to die down and fade away, think of how lovely your garden would be to look out at if it were planted with amazing asters. Asters are an easy growing perennial flower that don’t need much care.  They need full sun and grow well in average soil. Asters have a daisy like appearance and come in shades of blue, purple, several shades of pink, white, lavender and red.  Their yellow centers are actually tiny flowerets.  Asters vary in size from  less than 1 foot tall to 2 feet tall or taller, depending on the variety. Asters produce  large delicate clusters  of blossoms and again depending on the variety, they will fair quite well in northern climates, making a wonderful addition to your fall garden.  The New England variety  of asters will bloom profusely during August and through the month of October.

When planting choose a spot where they will receive full sun although they do well in partial shade.  They should also be planted in moist well draining soil, but again the will fair well in an average soil.  As they begin to grow they will form broad bushy like clumps, so it will be wise to plant them at least 18 inches apart.  If you already have well established asters in your garden, remember to divide them every few years or so in the early spring or late fall after they have finished flowering.  In the spring as new growth begins to appear and they have become established, start to pinch back the tops by 2 to 6 inches and at least once and again during the summer.  In doing this it will make them bushier when they start fall blooming and make the blossoms larger.  After mid July, don’t do any more  pinching the weather is to hot and it will cause them to bloom less at bloom time.

Pay close attention  to their growth, asters will grow tall and leggy, but they also make an excellent cutting flower, especially the Spider Aster, Double and Semi Double varieties also do.  The Powder Puff variety grow in gorgeous ball shaped clusters.  Whatever you should choose to plant, asters will make a wonderful addition to your fall gardens.

For more information on Asters go to:

The Garden Helper
The Gardeners Network.

Technorati Tags: Fall  Flower Gardens