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Tuesday 4 September 2001

ET

In focus: Asters (Filed: 01/09/2001)

Once you have seen them in full bloom, you will want nothing else, says Mary Keen

AT this time of year, with the sun low in the sky, the slanting light flatters all flowers, but especially the misty blues and pinks of the aster. Michaelmas daisy is a prettier name for this flower, but it is a misleading one: the earliest asters arrive at the start of August, and the latest go on well beyond Michaelmas (September 29).

Aster x frikartii 'Mönch': cannot be ignored

Once you have seen asters in full bloom - perhaps at the National Trust's Upton House, near Banbury, or at the Picton Garden in Worcestershire, which holds the National Collection - you will want to grow nothing else. Lucky people with large gardens can plant yards of them, then leave them until they flower. But for the rest of us, there is a problem. While they are waiting for their annual moment of glory, most asters are dull, dull, dull. So we must be selective.

Even the smallest garden will have space for a few asters. Line out some clumps among the vegetables, moving them later into the gaps left by early flowers. Lupins, delphiniums and oriental poppies all leave plenty of space when they are over. Michaelmas daisies move easily if you soak the plants for an hour before you do the deed, and then puddle them in as you plant. Evening is the best time.

The ones to keep for this treatment are the large varieties - the beautiful, misty-blue A. cordifolius 'Little Carlow' or, if you like a more direct colour-hit, the bright pinks of the A. novae-angliae group ('Harrington's Pink' or the electrifying cerise 'Andenken an Alma Potschke').

Aster novi-belgii: more prone to mildew

Another technique for filling spaces with asters - one that I learnt recently at Great Dixter - is to put in small plants of A. frikartii in the first half of August to perform in October.

Some asters are less boring than others, and these are the ones to choose if you cannot adopt the more lavish Great Dixter-type techniques. According to plantsman Graham Stuart-Thomas, Aster x frikartii 'Mönch' is a plant no gardener should ignore. He puts it in his top 10 for length of flowering and ease of habit. The true 'Mönch' is hard to find, but a good nursery, such as Four Seasons or Cotswold Garden Flowers, should be able to supply the authentic form. Its blue daisies appear for almost four months, it needs no staking, and it is healthy. Rabbits cannot resist it, however, which is why some of us find this aster hard to establish.

Aster lateriflorus 'Horizontalis' looks distinguished at any time of year. It has wiry dark stems, arranged exactly as the name would suggest, and dark leaves (even darker in A. lateriflorus 'Prince'). The flowers are tiny, in two tones of pink. It needs no staking and lasts until Christmas. Another small variety that gives good value is A. thomsonii 'Nanus'.

Aster amellus 'Veilchenkönigin' and A. amellus 'King George' are stiff growers with handsome leaves. The taller ones - such as these and 'Little Carlow' - must be staked.

Also worth seeking out is the A. ericoides group. With wiry forms and small flowers, they are not showy, but they can be extremely pretty. 'Monte Cassino' is tall and deliciously airy. And so is turbinellus, with its starry blue flowers.

The ones to avoid all belong to the A. novi-belgii group. They are more prone to mildew than the rest, and drought makes the problem worse, so you must grow them in moist places or be prepared to use fungicides.

Growing tips

Most soils in sun or partial shade will suit asters. If you give them too much nourishment, they will become lax and floppy.

Most varieties need staking, firmly. Autumn winds can make asters look very messy.

Division is best done in spring rather than in autumn. But you can also do it in August so that plants make new roots in warm soil.

Many of the old A. novi-belgii group are very invasive. If you are desperate to the kind of asters found in old gardens, try planting them in long grass, where they can look quite romantic.

Where to buy

Four Seasons Forncett St Mary, Norwich, Norfolk NR16 1JT (01508 488344; www.fsperennials.co.uk) - mail order only.

Cotswold Garden Flowers Sands Lane, Badsey, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 5EZ (01386 833849; www.cgf.net).

To buy asters from greenfingers.com click here.

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2001