Wildflower Wednesday: Frost Aster's moment in the sun

The blue wood ex-asters have always over shadowed the Frost asters in my garden until this year!

That's when I noticed how delightful it looked arching over the Susans and other spent blooms in the sunniest garden beds. It's a blizzard of small bright white flowers and on sunny autumn days it's busy hosting bees of every size and any butterflies still out and about. Frost aster is doing the job I had hoped the Boltonias would do: blooming late and attracting pollinators. And it's doing it in dry soil.

Symphyotrichum pilosum is known by several common names, depending upon what part of its growing range you hail from: hairy aster, frost aster, hairy white aster, old-field aster, and, awl aster.

Often described as a bushy plant, it's a delicate arching plant at Clay and Limestone.  Snipping it back early in the summer might make for a shorter and bushier plant, but, I prefer the graceful look of arches in my garden to counteract the many tall wildflowers.

Frost aster started blooming as the S novae-angliae and Solidagoes were beginning to decline and just as the little asters everywhere began to bloom. They're still blooming and looking good after several heavy rainfalls and two frosty nights. I appreciate its long lasting floral display and so do the pollinators. Late blooming flowering plants are extremely important food sources for pollinators still out and about on beautiful warm fall days.

During the summer the green stems are hidden by Susans and other blooming beauties. You might consider combining them with bluestems (the red fall colors would be a delightful contrast) or perennials like Tradescantia and Phlox paniculatas.  If your garden is dry, Monarda punctata, Parthenium integrifolium and Asclepias tuberosa gone to seed would be good partners.

yellow centers are surrounded by many (16-35) white ray florets

Frost Aster has a lot going for it:

• an easy peasy, no maintenance plant
• a delightful extended season of bloom (Sept - Dec), 
• showy white flowers
• graceful arching stems
• a floral display that keeps on keeping on~it's not stopped by rain, sleet, snow or freezing
• a delicate sweet scent
• a pollinator magnet 

the stems of this little aster are covered in fine, fuzz-like hairs

Frost aster is a Clay and Limestone rough and tumble wildflower.  It's a simple flower that blooms its heart out and require no special care. Please note, like many members of the Asteracea family, this one is a traveler (self seeding), but you can easily transplant any seedlings to other parts of your garden. If you don't want to edit, cut the flower heads off after bloom, but, remember,  you will be depriving song birds and small mammals of those seeds.

Symphyotrichum pilosum is native to every state in North America east of the Rockies and also to eastern Canadian provinces. In Latin, pilos means 'hairy' and the stems of this little aster are covered in fine, fuzz-like hairs.
 Symphyotrichum is a genus of about 90 species of herbaceous annual and perennial plants that were formerly treated within the genus Aster; I affectionately refer to them as the Ex-asters. Frost aster like the other ex-asters in my garden is native to Middle Tennessee. They all grow and thrive in the shallow clay soil and semi-shady to almost full sun conditions of my Zone7 garden (formerly Zone6b)

the yellow centers may become reddish with age

The Particulars

Botanical name: Symphyotrichum pilosum
Common Name: hairy aster, frost aster,  hairy white old-field aster, awl aster
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Asteraceae
Native Range: Eastern North America and western Canada
Zone: 4 to 8
Height: 2.00 to 4.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 4.00 feet
Bloom Time: September to October and into November (middle Tennessee)
Bloom Description: White rays and pale yellow center discs. Showy and attractive to native bees and butterflies
Leaves: Alternate, Simple, Entire; Long lance-shaped. The lower ones often disappear during hot summer months
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Mesic to dry conditions
Soil: Loam, clay-loam, sandy loam, or gravelly material
Maintenance: Low
Distinctive features: Very fuzzy stem, as if coated with a thick frost.
Comments: This aster is easy to cultivate, but it can spread aggressively by reseeding itself, especially in open disturbed areas. You'll see this plant out the car window in empty field, highway  medians,  disturbed areas, along railroad tracts and empty neighborhood lots.
Wildlife Value: Moderately deer resistant. Host plant for the Pearl Crescent butterfly. Flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies. Songbirds and small mammals eat the seeds. Members of the genus Symphyotrichum species support the following specialized bees: Andrena (Callandrena s.l.) asteris, Andrena (Callandrena s.l.) asteroides, Andrena (Cnemidandrena) hirticincta, Andrena (Cnemidandrena) nubecula, Andrena (Callandrena s.l.) placata, Andrena (Callandrena s.l.) simplex, and Colletes simulans.  (source)
Ecological Value: Because of its "weedy" nature it is great at colonizing disturbed and "waste places". It protects soil from erosion and provides food for wildlife where more sensitive plants cannot yet grow.(source)

xoxogail

*The Bumble Bees, honeybees, Miner bees, and large Leaf-Cutting bees (long-tongued bees), bee flies, butterflies, and skippers that visit all the late blooming ex-asters for nectar and pollen are essential for cross pollination or all those fluffy seeds would be infertile. So never, ever, ever, ever use pesticides, if you want pollinators to pollinate your ex-asters and other plants!

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday.  This day is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. It doesn't matter if they're in bloom (think winter sharing), how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist 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.

What's wrong with Goldenrod?

Absolutely nothing! 

Goldenrods put on a beautiful flower show in early autumn and any insect that needs pollen and nectar is sure to be found visiting. That's why I refer to them as landing pads of deliciousness.


Let's get the objections over with first! 

Goldenrods have a bad reputation for two reasons.

*They have been misidentified as the cause of hayfever suffering. They are not responsible for any allergy symptoms you or I are having this fall. The tiny grains of wind blown pollen from ragweed is the culprit. Goldenrod is insect pollinated and the pollen grains are too big to be blown about. Pass that along please!

*They can be aggressive spreaders. Goldenrods are rugged and adaptable. They grow were many wildflowers cannot survive and they can spread quickly where there is no other native plant competition. Those that have been problematic propagate by a rhizomatous/spreading root system that can quickly take over a small garden. If you want to plant them, but fear their nature, look for clump forming cultivated beauties like  Solidago 'Solar Cascade', Solidago caesia/Bluestem Goldenrod, Solidago odora, Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'.  My favorite clump former for shade is Solidago flexicaulis/Zigzag Goldenrod.

Zigzag Goldenrod

Long time readers know I have a love affair with rough and tumble, take care of themselves, colonizing wildflowers. If you stop by my garden today, you'll see Tall goldenrod/Solidago altissima duking it out with New England ex-aster/Symphyotrichum novae-angliae in the sunnier parts of the garden.

Next to oak trees, goldenrods may be the best wildflower for hundreds of insects

You'll see pollinators, especially bumbles, dancing from aster to aster, goldenrod to goldenrod and back to their nests. All day long.

Lichen moth

Although, it was the bumbles that led me to wildflowers and gardening for wildlife; it is the hundreds of other critters that visit and live in my garden that keep me committed to planting native wildflowers. Even when those flowers are thuggish! 

Ambush bug waiting for unsuspecting critters

Bumbles, song birds, spiders, flies, beetles, hoverflies, moths, butterfly and ambush bugs will always have Goldenrods to feed on at Clay and Limestone. Our native bees rely heavily on collected pollen and nectar found in Goldenrods to provide food for the winter brood's survival. Migrating butterflies stop by for the nectar to help them on their long flight and the seeds are needed by chickadees, finches and pine siskins during the winter.

Goldenrods don't scare me! I hope that I've been able to show you that there's much more good than bad in these golden beauties that light up our fall gardens and provide for critters.
xoxogail

PS If you want to provide for fall pollinators you must plant landing pads of deliciousness like Goldenrods and you must never, ever, ever, ever, ever use pesticides in your garden. I mean never!



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist 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.

Little Ex-Asters Everywhere

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 and Sulphurs 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 make me smile, they always travel in a pack. If you see one step back and look around and 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. Sixty years ago a neighborhood was carved from the woodland and a house was built. Homeowners came and went, while the asters grew quietly on the woodland  edge. Thirty years ago almost to the day, my husband I bought this garden 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 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!

xoxogail

PS All the pollinators~ Bumble Bees, honeybees, Green metallic bees, hover flies, Miner bees, and large Leaf-Cutting bees, bee flies, beetles, butterflies, and skippers that visit the flowers for nectar and/or pollen are essential for cross pollination. So never, ever, ever, ever use pesticides if you want pollinators to pollinate your ex-asters and other plants!

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist 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.

I appreciate the honeybees that visit my garden

Isn't she beautiful!

All the honeybees we see foraging for nectar and pollen are female and unless we keep hives we'll probably never see a male bee.

The worker honeybees' jobs include: caring for larvae (baby bees), making wax, building honeycomb, cleaning up the hive, storing pollen, cooling the hive, making honey, guarding the hive and collecting pollen and nectar. They are busy little creatures and I feel fortunate that they stayed still long enough for me to snap a few photos!

I appreciate that they pollinate flowers as they forage for pollen and nectar. I also have a fine appreciation for their honey making abilities! 

Which brings me around to yesterday morning when I noticed this pink sign in a neighboring yard.

Of course I called! 

I stopped by last night to meet Jodi the beekeeper and her bees. What a delightful surprise! She and her husband Matt are native plant gardeners! They're removing invasives! They've built a rain garden to solve their water drainage problems! They have hives!

Hillwood is lucky to have them! I am lucky that they live around the corner from me.

Of course, you all know that my beloved Bumbles and other native bees are first and foremost in my heart, but, a gardener has to get honey and what could be better than honey made by bees that might have visited my garden!

Now that's sweet!
Have a honey of a weekend...
xoxogail

It's your garden, plant what ever you want and please, remember to never, ever, ever, ever, use pesticides. I mean never!

In case you want to read earlier pollinator posts~

Now Is The Time To Bee-gin Thinking About Bees ( here)
This Is The Place To Bee ( here)
If You Could Plant Only One Plant In Your Garden~Don't (here)
Must Bee The Season of The Witch (here)
Go Bare In Your Garden (here)
We can't All Be Pretty Pollinators (here)
Eye, Eye Skipper, Big Eyed Pollinators (here)
What's In Your Garden (here)
Royalty In The Garden~Monarch Butterfly (here)
Carpenter Bees (here)
Got Wildflowers?(here)
It's Spring and A Gardener's Thoughts Are On Pollinators (here)
The Wildflower and The Bee (here)
A Few Good Reasons To Plant Milkweek (here)
Got Shade? You Can Have Pollinators ( (here)
A Pollinator friendly Shrub (here)
Big Goings On at C and L (here)
Where Have All My Pollinators Gone (here)

Other bee posts you might want to read~

Count Yourself Lucky To Have Hoverflies ( here)
Bumblebee Hotel (here)
Still Taking Care Of Bzzness (here)
My Sweet Embraceable You (here)


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist 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.

It's Your Garden

Plant what ever you want.

But, would you please plan(t) for all the critters that live and visit your garden?

Coreopsis 'Redshift'

You'll never bee sorry! They'll thank you for it by hanging around pollinating your flowers and vegetables/fruits and raising offspring that will gobble up harmful insects.

It's your garden, plant what ever you want, but, plant knowing that the more you plant for critters...crawling, flying and even digging ones, the healthier and more diverse your garden will be.

Plant what ever you want, but consider that you might be part of something big going on in your neighborhood.

  Your garden might be a neighborhood haven for all kinds of critters in the midst of a sea of lawns.  

Rudbeckia triloba

Yours might be one of the few gardens that offers pollinating critters nectar and pollen from late winter until late fall; a place for all kinds of critters to raise their offspring; or a stopping off place for water and food (seeds and berries) to migrating birds.

Viburnum rufidulum

It's your garden, plant what ever you want, just take some time to figure out what makes sense for your garden conditions.

 Identifying what grows naturally in your yard, neighborhood or local natural area is a good place to start.

 Notice which plants attract the most pollinators and which ones are just a pretty face.

 Watch to see which seed heads the birds eat first and which ones they never touch.

The Emerald Wavy Lined moth cat (Synchlora aerata) disguised as a decaying petal

Look closely at all the plants to see if any of the flowering plants are hosting a caterpillar or two! Don't forget to check out the trees and shrubs, you might be surprised to learn that many of the woodies are far more important to insects then many other plants.

Invest in a good wildflower book, a field guide to birds and if you're really ready to get to know the critters  your garden could host, purchase a good field guide to butterfly and caterpillars.

It's your garden, plant what ever you want, but, just in case you find yourself standing in the middle of a local nursery and you're wondering what to get, try my favorite trick~ stop and look around, then head straight over to any plants that are being visited by bees, skippers or butterflies.

Ruellia humilis

I know it's your garden and you should plant what ever you want, but, I sure hope you consider planting more native plants.

Verbesina virginica

There's just one other thing I need to say before I go, what ever you plant, your garden will be healthier if you never, ever, ever, ever, ever use pesticides. I mean never!

xoxogail

In case you want to read earlier pollinator posts~

Now Is The Time To Bee-gin Thinking About Bees ( here)
This Is The Place To Bee ( here)
If You Could Plant Only One Plant In Your Garden~Don't (here)
Must Bee The Season of The Witch (here)
Go Bare In Your Garden (here)
We can't All Be Pretty Pollinators (here)
Eye, Eye Skipper, Big Eyed Pollinators (here)
What's In Your Garden (here)
Royalty In The Garden~Monarch Butterfly (here)
Carpenter Bees (here)
Got Wildflowers?(here)
It's Spring and A Gardener's Thoughts Are On Pollinators (here)
The Wildflower and The Bee (here)
A Few Good Reasons To Plant Milkweek (here)
Got Shade? You Can Have Pollinators ( (here)
A Pollinator friendly Shrub (here)
Big Goings On at C and L (here)
Where Have All My Pollinators Gone (here)

Other bee posts you might want to read~

Count Yourself Lucky To Have Hoverflies ( here)
Bumblebee Hotel (here)
Still Taking Care Of Bzzness (here)
My Sweet Embraceable You (here)


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist 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.