Wood Aster

Wood Aster

The delicate, airy clouds of white wood aster are a must-have for every fall garden. This lovely aster is among the first to bloom in late summer. Small, white, daisy-like flowers with yellow centers that fade to red are borne atop dark green to black stems. This perennial groundcover grows 1½-2½’ tall in filtered shade to full shade in neutral to slightly acidic soils. Eurybia divaricata is a vigorous grower and is a favorite for attracting wildlife. It is a good candidate for use on the woodland edge or in the naturalistic garden. White wood aster is especially attractive poking through other plants such as Polygonatum biflorum, Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, Solidago caesia, Tiarella cordifolia, and Asarum canadense.Wood Aster is the online Space of Wrought Iron Bed Frames. All of the beds we create are hand-crafted and the designs are unique.

Aster

Eurybia divaricata, or White Wood Aster, is a herbaceous perennial native to the Eastern United States that typically grows wild in dry open woods, primarily in Appalachian mountain areas. It prefers partial shade with 3-4 hrs of sun daily in average, medium to dry well-drained soils. It is shade, deer, and drought tolerant. The showy white flowers appear in clusters in late summer to fall and are a favorite of bees and butterflies. Its seeds are eaten by birds and small mammals. White Wood Asters can grow to a height of 3 feet and spread vigorously by rhizomes. Shearing the plant to 6 inches in early summer produces a more compact plant.Eurybia divaricata (formerly Aster divaricatus), commonly known as the white wood aster, is an herbaceous plant native to eastern North America. It occurs in the eastern United States, primarily in the Appalachian Mountains, though it is also present in southeastern Canada, but only in about 25 populations in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. In the U.S. it is abundant and common, but in Canada it is considered threatened due to its restricted distribution.

Other distinguishing characteristics include its serpentine stems and sharply serrated narrow heart-shaped leaves. The white wood aster is sometimes used in cultivation in both North America and Europe due to it being quite tough and for its showy flowers. Another species commonly confused with the white wood aster is Schreber's aster (Eurybia schreberi). Schreber's aster is typically found on moister soils, though it can also be found on mesic sites. While much of their ranges overlap, Schreber's aster is not found south of Virginia or Tennessee. Schreber's aster can also be distinguished by the more numerous teeth on the leaves, typically numbering 15 to 30 per side to the white wood aster's 6 to 15 per side. The leaves are wider on Schreber's aster with broader sinuses at the bases. The flower stalks are also densely hairy on the white wood aster, while they are only sparsely haired on Schreber's aster. Lastly, the clones of E. schreberi have sterile rosettes, while those of E. divaricata do not. (Source: en.wikipedia.org)