Photo courtesy of Donna Williamson.
Raydon’s Favorite asters.
Asters are a joy, even if they don’t bloom long enough
By Donna Williamson | 10.27.09
The asters are blooming. They always make me smile. The color is gorgeous in the last days of summer and on into autumn when so many other plants are tired. They are host to myriad beneficial insects. And they remind me of what a fraud I am.
My classes in gardening and garden design take place in the winter months. One of my stock comments is, “That’s a five-minute plant.” I’m referring to using a plant that has only a few days of beauty in a location where better performance is required.
Typically these are old-fashioned favorites such as lilac. Planting a lilac close to a house or pathway so you can enjoy the wonderful fragrance is something I discourage since in my part of Virginia and southward, it blooms for what seems like five minutes.
Then, the rest of the summer (usually dry), its leaves are covered by greasy gray mildew. So I recommend that if you have to have one, you place it where you’ll have a nice walk to the lilac in April or May, and it will fade into the background the rest of the time.
In my opinion, daylilies tend to be five-minute plants. After blooming – each bloom lasts but a day – the plants develop limp, yellow, mottled foliage and dried, flowerless stems (scapes). The best maintenance approach is then to cut the foliage/scape down to the ground and let new foliage emerge.
And then there are asters. Weedy looking at best, asters take up a lot of space if they are healthy and then wait until late August, September, or October to bloom.
Absolutely no doubt – they’re a five-minute plant. They are easy to propagate and have a tendency to propagate themselves around as well.
Still, pink and blue asters work very well for me. Honeysong Pink (see photo No. 3 above) is a delight, and so are October Skies (photo No. 1 above), Raydon’s Favorite (photo at right), Bluebird, and Alma Potschke.
Five minutes of glory. Maybe six minutes. But when I see them, I smile and know that fall is here.
Donna Williamson is a master gardener, garden designer, and garden coach. She has taught gardening and design classes at the State Arboretum of Virginia, Oatlands in Leesburg, and Shenandoah University. She’s also the founder and editor of Grandiflora Mid-Atlantic Gardening magazine, and the author of “The Virginia Gardener’s Companion: An Insider’s Guide to Low Maintenance Gardening in Virginia.” She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Editor’s note: To read more by Donna, check our blog archive. For other Monitor gardening content, see our main gardening page and our RSS feed.
You may also want to visit Gardening With the Monitor on Flickr. Take part in the discussions and get answers to your gardening questions. If you join the group (it’s free), you can upload your garden photos and enter our contests.
<< Growing fruit trees – tales of pilfered pears and frozen apples | MainComments
2. Donna Williamson | 10.28.09
Hi Paul!
Some daylilies are strong performers, especially in different climates than Virginia. I have several varieties that are exceptional but in the main, our heat limits most varieties to a short window.
Thanks for your comment!
Donna
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Paul Bourret | 10.28.09
I have to disagree with the statement that daylilies are a “five minute plant”. There are certainly some cultivars that fall into this category, but by selecting plants with good budcount or good reblooming properties it is possible to extend the period of bloom. A number of the daylilies we grow bloom for 4-5 weeks. Good examples of these are Mount Zion, Ghost of Thunder Road and Later Aligator. Daylilies such as Early and Often and Stella’s Ruffled Fingers over rebloom. Early and Often starts blooming in our Zone 5a Maine garden in mid July and is still blooming in September.