very lovely, elemire. Is your aster A.frikartii? Aster cuttings are super easy- i have drifts of them running through the grasses and rudbeckias right now -they have been flowering since July and are still coming on strong. I am always tempted by that persicaria but my sandy soil is no good for it, i think. your posy has a delicious autumnal feel without the stereotypical yellows and russets which dominate right now.

There are two asters, the pink one is Aster novae-angliae 'Rudelsburg' - a bit leggy plant with woody stems and mass of flowers. The violet one is Aster n.b. 'Prof.Anton Kippenberg'I think.

I have Aster x frik. 'Jungfrau' it is a bit earlier and bigger blooms, looks more like a violet-blue daisy. I got also Aster n.b. 'Starlight'- very bright magenta; and some white one, which probably was mislabeled, but nice non the less.

Another must have if you like asters is Aster cordifolius - blooms in small pink-white blossoms and looks a bit like gypsophila, just care free (well snails eat it sometimes, but it recovers). It is about to start blooming here and will be a show for the next few months.

I don't know about persicaria, on clay it is pretty much a weed, never thought of it being picky where to grow. As you may see in a pic, mine are dumped near the North Wall and look just like that even now, green and blooming. Bees love them too. Dumped is btw quite literally, since they were dug out and piled there, then some sand/soil/whatever mix was poured on when making path. I was planing to sort it out, but before I got to it, they pretty much took it over.

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Oh and fern is Dryopteris affinis 'Cristata', huge impressive shade lover for those places where you can't possibly stick a rose into.

Elemire,
I love your story. I miss those one year old days. I would way rather have your creative, good smelling bouquet than a regular, store-bought, no time or love went into it bouquet. Your in-law is lucky to have you.
Kitty
P.S. If my husband happens upon this, which I'm sure he won't, I love ANY bouquet from you.
Kitty

A.frikartii 'Monch' is such an awesome plant! Literally blooms July/August until now. Everyone should plant that and

Chrysanthemum 'Mei-Kyo' and 'Shefeild Pink' are also great fall bloomers, they bloom SO LATE.

Another aster that I just learned about this year and have fast become a favorite because they're native to the east coast are the aromatic asters, the cultivars 'Raydon's Favorite' and 'October Skies' are gorgeous and also later blooming. They look great with the red fall coloring of virginia sweetspire.

i avoid both the new england and the belgium asters but i do love amellus, frikartii, laterifolius (sorry for dodgy spelling btw) and cordifolius. Little Carlow and Harrington's Pinks have been pretty mildew free though. This is just about a fave time of year as I have got bored with my current garden and am already planning next years. Do you leave seed heads and old plant material in place in the hope of getting some romantic hoarfrosts? I don't because it all becomes a hiding place for molluscs and anyway, I really like to rip out loads of stuff and have a clear pallette. oh no, from where I am sitting, I can see the cat escaping into the cafe over the road - i expect a phone call any moment now. Tell me about your roses - I have no reds apart from moyesii but have been looking at Ulrich Brunner a lot.Also some of the geschwind roses. How does it fade? Do you get black edges? The only other fairly dark coloured rose i have is falstaff (not too keen) but keep thinking i should get more although they tend to fade into my overstuffed landscape. I do have a bengale crimson but I barely class that as a rose as it is so light, airy and delicate, it is in a pot with some forgotten grass and chocolate cosmos.

I loved the persicaria. I planted some 'Firetail' only a week ago and hope it will take over the bland purple/yellow bed.

lol kitty, about the husband note, we always should put that disclaimer. :D

oath, those are nice suggestions, although I can't get over the cultural line about Chrysanthemum. Where I come from it is typical graveyard flower for the autumn/all saints, it is reasonably popular as a garden plant here, but I can't get over it. It is same with calla being a wedding flower here - in my home country it is funeral flower (although my hubby jokes that for a man that's about the same). x)

campanula, mine do not get any mildew here. I do not leave the leftovers either, since for one we do not get that much frost to get the effect, also I like to tidy up stuff when the last bloomage is over.
Baaad kitty!
About red roses, I do not have that much. Ulrich Brunner is red-ish, as is Baron Girod, but it is that typical old rose pink-red, not the deep velvet of HTs. I think I like Ulrich Brunner, the blooms are biggish and loose, so less chance on balling. My best red is climber Sympathie really, blooms a lot, nice fragrance and is in between the modern HTs and OGRs looks. Also Paul's Scarlet is nice, but he blooms only once for me so far. I got Red Eden also, but he balls.

Here is Ulrich Brunner Fills, he is bit more redish in cooler weather:
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Baron I do not have a good pic, but there is plenty on HMF. :)

From reds, that's also from my notes, maybe you will find something:

Star of Waltham - I had my eyes on it for a while now,
Chevy Chase (the photos of Carolyn Parker look so awesome),
Cuthbert Grant (hardiness and weird parentage)
Eclair (that one looks really red in pics)
Gruss an Teplitz (is it really as bad bs wise as people claim)
Skyrocket (HM, looks bright)
Leopold Ritter (oooo globularinessss)
Astrid Gräfin von Hardenberg (the modern one, but seems people tell good things about her)

I also am getting Nur Mahal this autumn.

I love the bouquet with the ferns. Now I want to grow asters; they are such a welcome sight this time of year, as the trees are shedding their leaves.

Well how nice. The boquet is beautiful too. I love fall.

It is all very nice: my compliments, elemire.

I've never given much thought to herbaceous perennials, but wonderful people keep giving me them, and I'm beginning to appreciate them keenly, in particular this time of year when so many roses are ratty, while the asters and goldenrod are magnificent. We don't get a lot of fall color, so lack that element of the fall palette. Also most of our shrubs and trees are still young and insignificant in the landscape.
A few years ago a friend gave me a plant that has grown for years in a dank, shady, unwatered and untended bed: it's a variegated herbaceous plant and she told me it was a polygonum. I never could find it in my reference books, but a recent conversation on the phone with my friend resulted in an identification: Persicaria virginianum 'Variegata'. Persicaria must be a recent taxonomic innovation, as my reference books don't even list it. Anyway, the interesting thing about this plant is that last year it seeded, and the babies are also variegated. That struck me as unusual.
I can confirm that Persicarias do well on clay; they also take both sun and shade, though with a preference for the latter. I doubt they'd care for a really baking dry site, however.

Melissa

I think some persicarias are variegated (and red leafed too), for example Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon' and Persicaria runcinata.

That reminds me of another plant, Brunnera macrophylla - lovely silvery leaves and forget-me-not flowers, can be grown both in sun and shade, on of the better perennial purchases from last year.

I try to get as much bloom/color in the garden as possible through whole growing season, so I tend to end up with all sorts of plants, not only roses. Colchicums are in full glory here now, asters, some rudbekias, cosmos, Japanese anemones, persicarias, even some penstemons still are going. I still need more shrubs that bear berries though, to keep going through the winter. :D