We just love the Japanese Gymnaster savatieri ‘Edo Murasaki’, and they have truly been exceptional this spring. As constantly happens, recent taxonomic work has kicked this out of the gym…or more accurately, kicked the gym out of the aster. After years of being a Gymnaster, new DNA tests move it back into the genus, Aster.
Well, Kiss my Gymnaster Read More »
Looking great in our trials in early November is Symphotrichium dumosum ‘HillandSchmidtii’. Also, known as Aster dumosus before its name change, this fascinating 2018 Zac Hill/Jeremy Schmidt collection from Wilkes County, Georgia has proven to be quite a winner, so it will certainly be slated for a future Plant Delights catalog. We initially though this
An aster by any other name Read More »
Here’s another of those plants that virtually no one has either grown or even knows about. Handelia trichophylla is a little-known monotypic member of the aster family (Asteraceae). Not only does it have hairy, silver foliage, which usually spells certain death in our summers, but it hails from the “stans”, which include the low rainfall
Getting a Handle on Handelia Read More »
Elliott’s aster (Symphyotrichum elliottii) is the absolute last of our asters to flower at JLBG. It doesn’t begin to flower until the first of November and withstands the mild frosts of October like they didn’t even happen. It is naturally found in tidal freshwater marshes and other moist open sites from the Virginia and Carolina
Autumn’s last buzz – Elliott’s Aster Read More »
Mid-October is flowering time for the widespread (Canada south to Texas) native oblong aster, Aster oblongifolius (aka: Symphyotrichum oblongifolium). This amazing plant forms a large clump to 2′ tall x 8′ wide. This is the clone Aster ‘October Skies’, which is quite similar to the other widely grown clone, Aster ‘Fanny’. Average to dry soils
Symphyotrichum pilosum Here is a future introduction for Plant Delights, a 2018 Wilkes County, Georgia collection of a dwarf, compact form of our native frost aster, Aster pilosus (Symphyotrichum pilosum), collected by our research staff, Zac Hill and Jeremy Schmidt. It’s looking rather impressive in the trial garden this week, 30″ tall x 5′ wide.
Aster ‘Hillandschmidt’ Read More »
Aster oblongifolius ‘Fanny’ (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) has put on its normal superb show this fall. Keep in mind that this gets quite large. This is a 2 year old plant from a quart pot, which has already reached its mature size of 8′ wide.
Stare at our Fanny Read More »
