Tuesday, October 6, 2015

The Unknown Aster

It is different from all the other asters. It stays short, being two feet at most. It clearly spreads by rhizomes, forming an open stemmed colony. All the other asters have very distinct crowns making them clumping perennials.





















I'll have to watch to be sure, but I do not recall the central disc changing colors as the flowers age/get pollinated so much as they just turn brown. The center is a unique yellow color.

I don't know who this aster is and it is the only one that I know of in the wild cultivated gardens. I need an aster expert.


5 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Wish I could help you. I have a white one that just showed up. I have no idea. It doesn't do any good to try to pull it out. It comes back. I now accept it as a fall visitor.

Rebecca said...

Isn't that strange?
I like Lisa's designation - "a fall visitor".
Sounds like something that just MIGHT want to move in though...

Rebecca said...

I showed them to a friend who is quite acquainted with wild asters. His reply? "It's a calico aster...there are lots of them in the Loblolly Marsh, especially in the woods...they are really beautiful.."

I'm not sure but you might check it out.

Lola said...

Whatever it is pretty.

Christopher C. NC said...

Lisa I deliberately leave some fall visitors in client's gardens.

Rebecca I have a lot of what I think is the Calico Aster. The white flowers are very tiny and the centers turn a distinct red color as they age. I looked it up though and saw the Heath Aster listed as something similar. I think maybe this is the Heath Aster.

That it is Lola.