Flowering Facts: Asters

Purple Asters and Butterlies (Photo: Denise Hoff)

The aster is a tough and reliable flower that usually blooms during the fall and summer in dry climates.  This flower is one of the easiest garden perennials to cultivate.  Asters of all sorts grow throughout North America and across northern and central Europe, with a few species in South America. There are estimated to be 250-300 species worldwide; more than half of them are native to Canada and/or the United States.

The word aster is of Greek derivation and refers to the star-like flowers that can be white, red, pink, purple, lavender and blue, mostly with yellow centers.

Aster has been applied as the common name to species in what are now known to be in a dozen or more distinct genera within the tribe Astereae of the Sunflower Famil, the largest of the flowering plant family.  The Asters produce large clusters of delicate daisy-like flowers that make for colorful arrays.

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(Note: This blog post, written by Donn F. Flipse, originally appeared as an article in Gold Coast Magazine)