Check out helianthus Lemon Queen. It blooms over a long period towards the end of the summer through frost. Not sure if the height is what you want.

Hi Triciae....Chocolate Joe Pye weed will also be white, bloom at the same time and it has gorgeous burgandy/green leaves. Can take a fair bit of shade too. Fastest growing perennial I've ever seen! About 3' high, 4 wide although because I keep dividing even young plants I have NO idea how wide it could get lol.

triciae,
What about one of the large dahlias, they tend range in size from 3.5' to 5', the foliage typically stays nice, and there is a broad range of both color and form of flower. Of course it will need to be staked but for late summer showy bloom they are hard to beat. Kt

Here is a link that might be useful: Connells Dahlias

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't mean to be difficult but I guess that's what I am??

jant, I don't plant anything with "Weed" in it's name! rofl I had a bad experience with Bishop's Weed...nope, no weeds, Joe's or any others!

I like dahlias but they draw Jap Beetles to the garden. My friendly neighborhood beetles would much rather make dinner on dahlias than roses...go figure? By bloom time, they're gobbled down to the stems.

Asters are too invasive.

Hmmm, maybe, it's a good spot for a tall planter? Call it "Art" & be done with it?? :)

/tricia

I am not in zone 7, but I have never had a problem with an aster being invasive. I imagine some varieties must be. The winter comes and I would never see them again if I did not replant it.

I am wondering if there is something about the direction of the light source that makes the plant lean. In any case, there are a lot of nice daisy varieties out there.

Chocolate eupatorium is in fact a problem in our zone, and I wish I hadn't planted it - it's everywhere.

How about one of the small hydrangeas? They probably bloom earlier than your Montauk daisies; my M.D are really late, like around Thanksgiving. I'd shovel prune mine - which have self-sown quite a bit, but they're entwined with a couple of Cotinus that I'm not quite ready to lose. In any case they would give the same rounded form that the daisies did, if that's the kind of shape you're after.

I'll look through last falls photos and see what else blooms that late ... hmm, how do you feel about mums? I've got some French Vanilla that are actually quite a bit like MDs, and they're very late even though I usually don't cut them back much, since I want them tall in the spot they're in.

I see where I missed the bus now. I did not realize Joe Pie was an aster. We do have some huge expanses of them growing here... the pink kind.

Just to jump in and clarify a bit: Joe-Pye Weed and asters are different creatures entirely.

Joe-Pye is eupatorium (and the chocolate, in my garden anyway, is just beautiful -- hasn't become remotely invasive yet, though I gather it self-seeds for many). You can't beat the gorgeous foliage color!

Asters come in lots of varieties but I don't know of any that are considered invasive -- mine certainly aren't, though I have mostly low-growing varieties. I got most of them from the NW Conservation District, which doesn't sell non-natives or invasives (though they may be defining "invasive" slightly differently than you are, I suspect :) The CT Ag Station recommends a newish cultivar, "September Ruby," which gets tall (3 to 4 foot flower stems) -- I don't have it, but lots of people online seem to love it. Might be worth checking out?

Don't blame you for deep-sixing the Montauks. I had them at my old house and they ALWAYS flopped (as does my Helianthus Lemon Queen -- I don't recommend that unless you have a fence or backdrop of some sort to hold it up, since it gets extremely tall! )

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: info on asters from Cornell

I have some pretty aggressive asters - not sure what variety they are, but I love them and don't think they pose any problem for native plants in wild areas locally. So, I wouldn't call them invasive, personally, but everyone's got to draw the line where they see fit.

The OP is in coastal CT, and I guess I'd assume that Eupatorium 'chocolate' could be a problem there as it is here. I'm toying with the idea of bringing some to the 'greater Boston area' swap for anyone who lives north or inland. I'm sure it's a great plant, and I DO keep it around, but really need to remove the flowers if I don't want to see it - absolutely everywhere - the following year.

It's funny the variation in how plants grow in different zones/gardens. My Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' has never reseeded. Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' does get huge, I have 3 clumps out there this Spring that are at least 2 feet across! But they don't flop. I usually pinch them right about now though, maybe that helps, even with pinching 2 years ago it grew to 6 feet in full sun and didn't flop. Last year I moved them to part sun, they grew 4-5 feet, and didn't flop.

I have a few large and compact cultivars of Aster novae-angliae and they have never reseeded. The large ones are kinda floppy. Aster cordifolius (Blue wood aster) is quite a prolific reseeder in my yard. Aster divaricatus (White wood aster) is supposedly a reseeder too.

Terrene -- How tall is your helianthus when you first pinch it? Mine is only about 7-8 inches now, and it hadn't dawned on me to try pinching it so now I'm curious. Mine was at least 6 feet tall last summer, but it fell over/out/every which way and I ended up staking/tying/propping it... so I moved it last fall to right near a fence and a wall. But I would love to keep it from flopping in the first place, so am curious as to the size when you pinch... thanks!

Ctlady - mine are about 12-14" right now. I usually pinch when they are about 1-2 feet high. The clumps are so large and bushy right now, I can't imagine making them bushier! But will still pinch them anyway, because that may have helped them not to flop in the last 2 years.

Yesterday I dug up a 4th clump of Lemon Queen, which was the smallest, and divided it into 4 pots for the swap. Those I will definitely pinch.

I also pinch the large Asters (they were still floppy); the tall Solidago; and many annuals.

Here's a pic of the Helianthus Lemon Queen last year -

{{gwi:277290}}

My fault...I used the term "invasive" incorrectly. I should have said overly agressive in that they spread faster than I can divide them. In my zone, asters need dividing every spring or they'd engulf the property.

I have Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' planted in front of our fence. It does get huge...much too tall for the Montauk's spot. Nice plant though. I also pinch...I need to do that now!

It's not a good spot for hydrangeas...strong afternoon south western exposure & completely vunerable to the winds coming off the sound which is only about 100-125' away.

dtd, are your 'French Vanilla' mums aggressive? That sounds like it would be a good replacement for the Montauk. They just clump up as opposed to wildly spreading like the asters, right? My Montauk starting blooming mid-September (ish) & fizzled by Halloween. The mums would be a bit later which would be good. Sounds like they might be my answer.

Thanks everybody.

/tricia