It's full-on time for purple aster (
Machaeranthera canescens). Around my neighborhood, it's everywhere. Even tiny tufts of leaves in tortured areas of land sprout a few flowers. In other more moist and fertile areas, plants get 2-3 feet tall and cover themselves with flowers.
Typically a biennial or at best a short-lived perennial, it does not make a particularly good garden plant, unless you have the type of personality who can let it self sow around the garden in its preferred areas, changing the appearance of the garden each year. It also has quite a weedy appearance until it blooms.
I let seedlings appear in my unirrigated front yard sometimes, but inevitably, the plants produce pale flowers, not as dramatic as the plants that I see growing in other parts of the neighborhood, like in the horse pasture above, or on the mountainside.
Instead, in my manicured areas, I planted Aster x frikartii 'Monch' which is very similar in color, has a long season of bloom, and larger flowers. It also needs a lot more water, but that's not saying a lot compared to no water at all. I still loved the 'Monch' I had but have since moved on. At this time of year, I long for it again. It was moved to a friend's garden, and I visit it occasionally.
The asters by the roadside seem to be some of the nicest. Above, it cavorts with the yellow blooms of chamisa and reddish buds and stems of
Eriogonum annuum. Below, a particularly nice form and color, right next to the roadside.
It's full-on time for purple aster (Machaeranthera canescens). Around my neighborhood, it's everywhere. Even tiny tufts of leaves in tortured areas of land sprout a few flowers. In other more moist and fertile areas, plants get 2-3 feet tall and cover themselves with flowers.
Typically a biennial or at best a short-lived perennial, it does not make a particularly good garden plant, unless you have the type of personality who can let it self sow around the garden in its preferred areas, changing the appearance of the garden each year. It also has quite a weedy appearance until it blooms.
I let seedlings appear in my unirrigated front yard sometimes, but inevitably, the plants produce pale flowers, not as dramatic as the plants that I see growing in other parts of the neighborhood, like in the horse pasture above, or on the mountainside.
Instead, in my manicured areas, I planted Aster x frikartii 'Monch' which is very similar in color, has a long season of bloom, and larger flowers. It also needs a lot more water, but that's not saying a lot compared to no water at all. I still loved the 'Monch' I had but have since moved on. At this time of year, I long for it again. It was moved to a friend's garden, and I visit it occasionally.
The asters by the roadside seem to be some of the nicest. Above, it cavorts with the yellow blooms of chamisa and reddish buds and stems of Eriogonum annuum. Below, a particularly nice form and color, right next to the roadside.
0 comments:
Post a Comment