About aster flowers

The uniqueness of the aster flower family is that what first seems to be a single large flower is actually a combination of many smaller flowers.

Blooming in summer and fall depending on variety, the aster flower can grow anywhere from 2 to 4 feet in height. The aster flower comes in many varieties with colors ranging from yellow and purple to accents of leaves and petals of red and gold. Technically and generally the aster flower is a composite with ray and disc florets.

They have small, daisylike or starlike flower heads on leafy, often tall, stems. Their colors vary from white to pink, blue, and purple.  Each "disk flower" has five tiny petals united together, plus 5 stamens fused around a pistil with antennae-like stigmas. 

If you look closely at the big petals that crown the outside of the flower head, you will see that each petal is also a flower, called a "ray flower", with its petals combined together and hanging to one side. 

The aster family is most valuable for its well-known and numerous cultivated ornamentals flowers such as asters, daisies, chrysanthemums, marigolds, and zinnias. In North America, where most species are native, plants of the genus Aster are regarded as wildflowers, but in Europe they are cultivated as garden flowers and often called Michaelmas daisy. Most species of Aster are perennial and fall-blooming. 

When the seeds are ripe and fall away, you are left with a pitted disk that looks strikingly like a little garden plot where all the tiny flowers were planted.

The glorious large-flowered purple (rarely pink) aster that is the grandparent of many garden hybrids, New England aster is one of the top color makers for a late fall meadow. When other flowers are gone, the aster is at its peak. Seeds are difficult to collect in large quantities because they are produced so late in the season, therefore they are very costly.

Transplanting and dividing aster flowers

Early spring is really the best time to transplant and divide asters.  Be sure your asters are well watered the day before, try to take the entire root ball, and then water it in well afterwards. Be sure they receive adequate nutrients and moisture while they reestablish. 

Asters seem to do best if divided about every other year. If the plant is three years old, it is probably in need of division. You might want to consider doing that in early spring because it will rejuvenate the plant, help with size control and also give you more of them to add to the garden!

 Asters love fertile, rich soil with proper drainage. The soil should also be able to maintain it's moist feel for the entire summer. They can be grown in full sun or light shade.