Sky Blue Aster for the Fall Garden and Butterflies

Plant sky blue asters for added color and butterfly appeal in the fall garden.

Hardy in zones 3 to 8 this aster is native from Ontario south to Georgia and Alabama and west from Minnesota to Texas. You can find it growing in native prairies, woodland edges and rocky slopes.

This fall beauty tolerates a wide range of soils but prefers well-drained soil in full sun to lightly shaded locations. Once established it will tolerate drought.

The small daisy like flowers have a yellow center surrounded by blue to blue-violet petals. The blossoms provide an important late season food source for native bees.

This aster grows 2 to 3 feet tall and about 2 feet wide. Include it in natural plantings, prairie gardens, meadows and mixed borders. Or combine it with showy goldenrod to create a beautiful display reminiscent of a Monet painting.

A bit more information:  The daisy-like flowers of the sky-blue asters are really an inflorescence or arrangement of many individual flowers. What we call petals are actually infertile ray flowers. The center is comprised of usually fertile disk flowers.

Tags

garden-landscape-design flowers-ornamental-grasses asters goldenrod

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