Aster / Aromatic Aster

Aster oblongifolius 

'Raydon's Favorite'

Now named Symphyotrichum oblongifolium.

Planted in spring 2012. It has been a spectacular success.

The foliage, when touched, has a spicy old fashioned fragrance.  Hard to describe, it just smells antique!

Flowering has been explosive, and it's a pretty color.

10/25/12

They bloom at the same time as the big blowsy pink Sheffield mums, and the two together are nice.

10/22/12

When we put in the metal arbor in spring 2013, the asters got moved and dug up a bit but they went on to bloom beautifully. They are so big now, and starting to spread and flop a little, that they need dividing next year.

10/30/13

All my photos of this aster are when it is in full flower in fall. Before that it is nothing in spring, and a neutral blob all summer. The foliage is always fragrant to touch, but the plant is not much to look at until it blooms.

The original group of three that I put next to the entrance to the gravel garden are overtaking everything else there, and I chopped them back pretty severely in spring, then lopped of what encroached on the gate all summer. I do love how they embrace the gate and arbor.

10/14/14

In spring I dug several divisions of the original plants (woody crowns and tough roots were very hard to dig up), and put several in the back of the driveway garden, where they flourished and bloomed. They look so good with a clear red next to them -- the transplanted carpet rose and the red of the sumac's fall foliage are nice.

10/17/14

11/3/14

In 2015 all the divisions I dug and replanted looked great. I now have this stunning bloomer in four places: the original spot by the gravel garden gate, two rounded clumps at the back of the driveway garden, one under the guest room window, and one under the redbud tree in the blueberry garden.

2015:  10/14 to 10/27

It's never much to look at in spring and summer -- it's a big plant but it leaves a hole in the garden until it fills in in summer.

It does get floppy, especially the original larger one, but after the other things around it have gone by in late October it's fine flopping all over them, and it looks elegantly relaxed.

10/30/15

10/30/15

10/31/15