Wildflower Wednesday: Archival Visit-Little Ex-Asters Everywhere

I went into the archives to find a fun Wildflower Wednesday post to share this month because my work space is chaotic from ongoing reconstruction after abatement and remediation from a burst pipe! I've chosen Little Ex-Asters Everywhere. As you'll see in this post I fell under their spell the first fall in this house and it wasn't long after that I became completely charmed by bumblebees and other pollinators that visited them. Once the little asters were the dominant wildflower at Clay and Limestone. I miss that look and feel and will be scattering their seeds hoping they will again make a magnificent presence in this garden.

 

Little Ex-Asters Everywhere: October 21, 2015

Ex-aster time is the best time to be in the garden. The days are warm and Autumn angle of the sun makes everything glow.

Leaves from the oak and hickory canopy have begun to fall and the sunlight that gets blocked all summer is now able to reach the woodland floor where it warms up the garden and spotlights these little beauties.

Even on cool mornings the sunny spots are alive with bees and other pollinators. You have to be very patient to capture a photo of the Bumbles, they're very busy in their mad dash to collect pollen and nectar to fortify their nests for the winter.

 Later in the day the skippers can be seen flitting from flower to flower.

 Bee mimics, like the fly above, are busy nectaring, too.

Green metallic bees are all over the little ex-asters

 Although, the Bumbles are my favorites, I am pretty crazy about all the critters that visit and live in this garden. The little bees green metalic bees make me smile. If you see one, you'll see dozens of them.  

 The ex-asters introduced me to the Bumbles and we've been friends ever since...

Asters (as they were once known) and other Central Basin natives grew with happy abandon in the forested woodland where this garden now stands. In the early 1950s a neighborhood was carved from the woodland and our house was built. Homeowners came and went, while the asters grew quietly on the woodland  edge. Forty-one years ago almost to the day, my husband I bought this house and this brand new gardener fell head over heals in love with the blue clouds of flowers that were covered with bees and butterflies.

 I built my garden around the flowers. I've allowed them to root and seed themselves with abandon.

They've spilled into the paths, crept into the wildflower beds and cozied up to the benches all over Clay and Limestone.

Each fall I wait with anticipation for those first blooms. With them come the pollinators. It's not that there aren't pollinators during the spring or summer, it's knowing that these will be among the last until next spring that makes my heart soar and finds me dashing to the garden first thing in the morning.

What a beautiful dance. Swaying flower stalks and busy bees.

It's been a happy and successful relationship, if I do say so myself!

 

 

THE PARTICULARS

Genus: Symphyotrichum 

Species: S cordifolium and S shortii and maybe a few others that I've added like Calico aster and Aromatic aster

Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium): Delicate bluish-purple or pale blue flowers with heart-shaped lower leaves. Forms a slow spreading clump usually in woodland soils that are average to dry. A great plant massed for shady or semi-shady native plant gardens and woodlands. 

Short's Aster (Symphyotrichum shortii, formerly Aster shortii) is a shade-tolerant, native North American perennial wildflower in the family Asteraceae. Grows about 2 to 4 feet tall in upright, bushy clumps. Features pale blue, lavender, or violet-blue ray flowers (0.75" or larger) with central disk florets that start buttery yellow and age to deep reddish-purple after pollination 

Family: Asteraceae 

Life Cycle: Perennial 

Habit/Form: Arching or erect 

Growth Rate: Medium 

Maintenance: Low 

Light: Dappled Sunlight (Shade through upper canopy all day) Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours) 

Soil: Clay, High in Organic Matter, Loam (Silt) 

Drainage: Good Drainage     

Moisture: Occasionally dry and some moisture

Range: Both little ex-asters are happy in eastern US, but, the heart leaved aster is native further west. Neither like Louisiana.

 

Propagation: Best by seed or plant plugs.

Attracts: Bees, Butterflies, Pollinators, Small Mammals, Songbirds and Specialized Bees 

 Comments: If you want a big blue look and have the space and/or tolerance for their green leafyness most of the summer, then, they are the plants for you! You can surely find a few for your garden with over 66 species asters found in the United States.

 They bloom for almost two months, grow in almost any soils, flower in the shade, tolerate drought or deluge, they are also larval host plants for many species of Lepidoptera and are visited by every bee, bee mimic, wasp, skipper and butterfly that lives here or stops by the garden. They are the primary nectar source for late visiting butterflies and bees and if we have a later than usual frost, they are often the only nectar source for the last bees.

PS Please don't use pesticides in your garden and be mindful of where you purchase your plants. Many plants are still being treated with neonics (neonicotinoids). These are systemic poisons that are absorbed into the plant's vascular tissue and cannot be washed off. The chemical permeates everything—the roots, leaves, stems, and crucially, the pollen and nectar. Go here for an article on the effects of neonicotinoids on bees and humans.

xoxogail 

 

Thank you for stopping by and welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if your wildflower is in bloom or not; and, it never matters if we all share the same plants.  

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.