Plant · P-138

New England Aster

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

New England Aster is a tall fall-blooming perennial covered in purple-pink daisy flowers from August into October, a key late nectar source for migrating monarchs and native bees. It needs consistently moist, distinctly acidic soil below pH 6.8 and has no rated drought tolerance, conditions that match its native range from Quebec and Maine south to South Carolina and west to the eastern Great Plains. On dry, alkaline ground it needs steady irrigation and soil acidification to survive - a close relative, the aromatic aster, gives the same fall nectar show on calcareous, low-water ground for none of that input.