How do we all feel about asters? I have a feeling that they are not quite The Thing. I've had a bit of a brain wave for next year but it involves a Bold Statement in purple and pink asters and I don't want to commit a faux pas. Please save me from being that woman who doesn't know asters are So Last Century. I should add that I am Most Grateful for your guidance on this and other matters horticultural.
*gigglesnort* <--- because i'm the Last Person who ought to advise on fashion, horticultural or otherwise ... i rather like asters...they have the daring quality of being both wild and cultivated over here [which appeals to my devil-may-care attitude toward gardening].
ReplyDeletethat said, i usually pull them out, thinking they're going to grow up to be goldenrod [which is Moste Profuse here] and then regret it, realizing they would've been asters when i find ones i missed.
there's a lot of them in the horse's paddocks at work and they're a lovely dose of defiance against the turning of the season....so i find them to be, overall, very smile-making.
as i said, i'm the last person to advise you. still, i'd say go forth and Be Bold. xo
How lovely to have fields full of asters - I didn't realise that they grew wild like that.
DeleteI'm all for Bold Statements. If you love them, plant them; if you don't, plant something else you do love. That's my gardening philosophy. Asters can look fabulous en masse but sometimes look a bit tatty in small doses. I don't hold this against them, though, as they add colour late in the season and provide nectar for insects.
ReplyDeleteWhat sensible and spine-stiffening advice. I shall go forth and plant although I agree that they can look a bit moth eaten if they get squashed by rain.
DeleteI stopped growing asters because they are so fleeting, but I think like most things nowadays you can get improved varieties so perhaps I should try them again. I had a 50% success rate with my two new dahlia tubers this year. I just keep trying. I quite like having new and different varieties each year. And hollyhocks have been very 'in' this year and I'm definitely going to try them again next year. Specifically I'm going to research rust-free varieties in dark plummy colours. I think H. Rosea Nigra is the one to try, as seen at Sissinghurst earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteI have some white hollyhocks in another bed for next year so I haven't entirely given up hope. I suspect that the place I chose for them this year was too shady and perhaps too damp because I think they prefer a free draining soil.
DeleteClay and Limestone grows a lot of ex-asters (some of them have been renamed)
ReplyDeletePink and purple sounds magnificent!
I am persuaded! I will go on a pink + purple aster binge next year.
DeleteThe beauty of gardening is that you can do whatever takes your fancy in your own green space. Plant breeding creates new types and varieties, but sometimes older is better, it just depends on conditions and whims. Plant fashions are often ephemeral affairs, seemingly created by those with products to sell.
ReplyDeleteI love the enthusiasm that comes with 'rediscovery' of plants. The re-emergence of the dahlia from unfashionable obscurity has been a delight to observe in the past few years - all those gardening writers who scoffed undergoing dramatic conversions.
DeleteAsters provide welcome late summer colour and are bee and butterfly magnets Sarah. What's not to like?
ReplyDeleteI saw some in beautiful pale pastel shades at a horticultural show that were excessively frilly and I have my eye on those if I can find them.
DeleteI think that they are delightful little things, such zingy colours.
ReplyDeleteSay no more - you have persuaded me. I'm going to plant a trolley load.
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