If You Have Asters, Your Garden Is Blooming
Extend summer's beauty
Asters are tall, hardy perennials that bloom in the late summer and fall, extending the beauty of your garden until first frost. After all the other plants have gone to sleep, asters turn their sunny faces up for you to enjoy.
Fall Care
Mature clumps of asters can be divided every three or four years. Wait until flowering has finished but before frost. Simply dig out part of the clump and plant as usual in another spot.
Deadhead spent blooms to keep your garden happy. It seems like a pain to stand in the garden cutting off dead flowers, so I always cut them off when they're beautiful and have bouquets on the dining room table. Make sure you shake out the bees and other bugs, though! Or swish the newly-cut flowers in a bucket of water.
DO NOT overwater at the end of the season. Let your asters dry out naturally, and cut them back to within a few inches of the ground. Mulch is always a good thing in this part of Minnesota, but they'll probably be OK without.
Pinching Back
Asters benefit from pinching back once per season, from mid-June to no later than mid-July. They'll produce bushier plants with many more fall blooms if you cut off the top six to eight inches. If you don't pinch them, they may grow leggy and require staking, so take the time to do this.
It's OK to cut the plants right in half in June, too. This might sound extreme, but it'll only delay blooming by a few days and you'll have much nicer-looking plants.
Planting Tips
Asters are incredibly easy to grow and are drought tolerant. Please don't overwater or overfeed them. Just keep an eye out and don't fuss too much.
If you're introducing asters to a planned perennial garden, keep in mind they grow two to four feet tall and produce star-like flowers at the top of the stems. Their abundant leaves are long and pointed, and dark green in color. They grow in clumps of stems, so plant (or thin) to about eighteen inches apart because you don't want to crowd them. Plant something low and rounded in front to compliment them.
When you bring asters home fresh from the greenhouse, plant them in full sun in moist, well-drained soil. Amend the soil with compost, of course, or add sand to lighten the soil.
Divided asters should be planted in full sun as well, and watered thoroughly with a well-balanced fertilizer.
Powdery Mildew
Asters are easy-care plants, and powdery mildew is about the only disease they regularly get. They look like they're sprinkled with talcum powder! Prevent it by keeping your clumps thinned. Remove the foliage and compost if you have a powdery mildew attack.
Interesting side notes:
The word "aster" comes from the Greek word for "star." They're also known as starwort, Michaelmas Daises, or frost flowers. There are some 600 varieties of asters growing wild or cultivated all over the United States.
Birds, bees and butterflies love asters because of their colorful, showy blooms.
It might seem like it's time to stop gardening for the year, but actually it's the perfect time to start planning for next. In the spring, you have too much to do! Plan now and you'll know exactly which plants and flowers to get early next season.
