if you consider your garden as a whole season ... then giving fall bloomers space.. is space well spent during their boring summer ....

also ... the garden need not be a complete riot of color ... what might be called dead spaces of just a green mound ... might be what they call.. restful to the eye ...

i suppose.. in other words.. its all in your head.. and you have to go zen on it ... you either want them.. or you want the space ... its your choice.. and be brutal about it.. but dont worry or be overly concerned .... its your vision.. and who cares what anyone else thinks ....

of course.. fall blooming mums are sold as nearly disposable plants ... you can always buy a few in fall.. and just enjoy them and be done with them ...

ken

“ you either want them.. or you want the space ... its your choice”

I agree.

Mine are permanent. I don’t try to conceal them, they grow in amongst the other perennials which all take their turns blooming. Making them hardly noticeable....

Well worth the space for fall Color imo.

My asters are blooming now but the foliage is awful. The stems are all black and bare of leaves. We have had a lot of rain. I am tempted to cut them down because other than the top blooms they look hideous. I think they need moved back in the bed with taller plants in front .

Nancy was the bed really dry before the rain? I had some in a very dry bed that I had to cut back due to the same reason. I will be moving them to a happier place (hopefully).

No it’s always wet. I think they got too much water. I might try moving them .

I think that’s a good decision.

I've decided that I don't really like asters, either the foliage or the flowers, or their reseeding habit if I don't get them deadheaded, and have eliminated all but 2 plants -- and those may get yanked this weekend. Mums, on the other hand, don't survive well, but I want them -- as mentioned above, the neat green mound is a nice element before they bloom. It is hard to find them to plant in the spring, but I did get 3 this year and so I hope they will survive the winter.

Raee you can buy them now and put them in your garage/shed for the winter and then plant in the spring. That way they have plenty of time to get established vs planting in the fall. Just be sure they are the ‘hardy’ mums.

If you put them in your garage , how often do you water them. I tried this with roses and they didn’t make it

Yes, I've tried that before without success also. Won't hurt to try again, especially as I can get mums marked down to just a dollar or 3 now. The watering trips me up also, too little or too much.

I've thought about maybe putting them in a window well then surrounding them with bags of leaves or packing peanuts or gravel (may try this with some grocery store roses too).

I water about every three wks or so...Sometimes I forget and it’s later. You don’t want to soak them. I just give a quick drink.

I grow lots of asters. Especially natives from seed

SEE https://theherbladyblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/01/asters-are-a-needed-for-pollinators/

Well worth the wait, and the space, in my opinion...

We have a number of horticultural asters and have had several perennial chrysanthemums. I find that the asters give the better fall show.

Our New England aster cultivars do tend to take up a fair bit of space, but are quite showy in fall. The most compactly growing quite hardy fall aster that we have is smooth aster 'Bluebird' which has a power blue flower. As with the other fall asters, it's extremely popular with the bees.

Smooth aster 'Bluebird' (Sept. 26, last year: not blooming yet this year).

I have a lovely little aster that I can’t remember the variety this early in the morning. Anyway, got it and planted it, not really knowing anything. Over the years. It’s turned into a nice little. Edge shrub, for lack of a better description. It’s not aggressive, and the foliage is quite fine through the season. It’s blooming now and really a little treat.

Beautiful pictures. Emily Saba, I just got a start of Purple Dome, which I assume yours to be. It’s lovely.

Thank you, everyone, for your input! I suppose the answer is exactly what I feared: if I want the beautiful blooms in fall, I have to put up with the foliage. :) I don’t mind the mums, I think they look rather nice. Asters look weedy to me. Far different from allowing a peony, with handsome shrubby foliage, prime real estate during the non-blooming months. Oh, well. I think I’ll find room for them. :) thanks again for the input.

Dillybeansown, weedy look is my problem with them -- in fact I nearly yanked one earlier this summer because I thought it was a weed. Turns out it must have been a native that somehow got there, though, because when it bloomed the flowers were smallish, nearly white, and completely unimpressive. My pink and lavender ones also don't look nearly as nice as those pictured above, not as floriferous or compact, which is why I don't think I will keep them -- unless there is a trick to getting them to look better!

Raee, you should give them both a Chelsea Chop and a Hampton Hack. You could pinch them at least one more time during the summer, just like crysanthemums (but I don't know any other names, lol). Then they will be more compact and bushy, and more floriferous!!! Maybe give them one more year, try it...

Thanks, I will do it!

Re horticultural New England asters:

In a larger garden I plant them at the back of sunny beds; the summer-blooming perennials tend to hide much of the aster foliage. Watering, plus reducing, dividing and replanting them every three or four years contributes to their overall look.

The only seeding I've seen is, in other locations, with dwarf 'Purple Dome'.

Picture today from a garden I planted and have maintained for close to twenty years.

Beautiful picture! Is that Alma Potshke in the background? What’s the name of the variegated phlox? How lovely.

It is Dillybeansown. It's 'Nora Leigh', which is the latest blooming Phlox paniculata which we have. This particular plant, however, is several weeks behind our other 'Nora Leigh'.

Michaelmas Daisies are my favorite flowers, that last burst of color before it's over for another year. I still have my border of Alma Potschke down the driveway thanks to a very generous member here but they are late to flower this year, just starting now.

At one time I had more than 60 varieties a lot I imported from Old Court Nurseries in the UK. One winter I was wiped out by something, whatever it was it got every single one of these. Most of these are from the small root cuttings I imported the same spring.

Annette

Looks great. Please post a pic when everything is in bloom.

I just realized that my brightly colored aster 'Wild Romance' didn't bloom this year! I've had it for many years -- I wonder what became of it. I had thinned the clump but it was not one that I removed...I think...

I’m one of those “zone envy” gardeners who always wants to grow the things that don’t in my zone 10a garden. Asters were one of them until I came across Aster chilensis ‘Purple Haze’, from Annie’s Annuals and Perennials. Boy, was I excited! I ordered one this past spring and planted it on my dry slope about a foot or two from a drip line. Last week I had to cut and pull out half of it to keep it from taking over a small rose about 4’ away from it! That aster really took off! I guess I should have paid more attention when the description said it spread by runners. I figured that in my dry clay soil it wouldn’t grow much, but I was very wrong! lol Lesson learned, but I finally found an aster I can grow well in Southern California. I think I need to dig it up and plant it in a root barrier over the winter to keep it from taking over everything.

I don’t really mind mums in my garden. For some odd reason some of them often bloom twice a year here. I have some that will bloom lightly in the spring, and then heavily/normally in the fall. Does anyone else in a warm climate experience this? I also don’t mind that the mums are just green and nonblooming the rest of the year. I feel that every garden needs some “restful” spots of green to keep things from looking too busy. The chrysanthemums step in as an evergreen small shrub in my garden. They don’t take much space, break up swatches of color, and then burst into bloom when many other plants are winding down. Of course in my zone, even the the .99 cent “disposable” fall mums are perennial and last many years. They definitely need to be pinched or cut back until about mid July or August around here, though. Otherwise they become too large and flop without staking. Overall, I really like them! Oh, one more thing. In a mild climate that hosts at least some pesky insects year round, I really appreciate that the chrysanthemums are one of the VERY few things no bugs bother!

This is one of my favorites. I’ve had it for years and ordered it from Bluestone Perennials. They no longer carry it, and unfortunately I’ve forgotten it’s name. The smokey lavender and brown tones combine perfectly in arrangements with my “coffee colored” roses. Lisa

Aftermidnight, wow! I bet that border is glorious when in full bloom! Yes, please post pics.

Lisa, what a beautiful mum. I haven’t branched out to any of the more unique mums yet. Currently I only have the “disposable” mums, which usually end up perennial here, too, as long as I get them in the ground early enough. I agree the green is nice. I just have a very limited sun bed, so I’m very jealous of space there. Lol. The mums still make it in, due to the unbeatable fall color,

Sorry can't post a picture, that's the border that was completely gone over one winter, not a bad winter but it had a good snow cover, Some critter got under and ate th roots. I have lots of pictures of individual varieties but not all mine, I snitched some to use for Identification purposes.

I removed all of my bluebird asters as I dislike the unattractive way they spread. I don’t mind mums, green foliage doesn’t bother me and it’s nice to have something in bloom in the fall.