Could it be P. divaricata?

Oregon Grape. Mahonia Mike

Are yours sending up huge stalks like mine? My plant gets very droopy when it gets dry (like now - WATER ME!), but otherwise, those tall stalks do a pretty good of standing straight up even against wind. When I looked up Carolina Aster, most of the description were of a vine like plant. I realize Stokes' Asters want full sun. My plant is at about the drip line of that Ligustrium. But it gets pretty good afternoon sun. I know plants tend to get "leggy" when they don't get as much sun as they want, but that goes well beyond "leggy". I'm positive that monster is not a Stokes. Maybe the little guy is. Do Stokes' Asters bloom their first year? Thanks for the replies.

I'm thinking that you are talking about perennial asters - Michaelmas daisies - and not annual China asters, Matoad. We have perennial asters in an out-of-the-way location and I haven't been paying attention to them for a few weeks - big mistake. They are covered with mildew and I really wonder whether this will be another year when they bloom very poorly and maybe not at all. This year, I began early spraying the snapdragons with Ortho Garden Disease Control along with the bug killer. Ortho used to call this stuff - Daconil. It is allowed by the feds to be used on our veggies but I wonÂt go that far. The snaps have continued to bloom nicely all Summer without rust showing up and destroying the plants in September. Why oh why didn't I walk around the side of the house and spray the Michaelmas daisies? It should have been enuf to slow the mildew down and permit a nice bloom. Annual asters did wonderfully in our garden and some plants began blooming way back in July. Of course, they are spent now and we are on to the annual asters planted out in mid-June. Still some nice color there despite a few frosts. Your question about the mums further implies that you are talking about the perennial species. I think it is far more likely that your problem with the asters is that mildew is damaging them. Cut them back for the Winter and hope for a better growing year in 07. You can also use a fungicide beginning mid-Summer to defend them from mildew if thatÂs the problem. Steve