October Skies Aster (Aster oblongifolius ‘October Skies’)

Get long-lasting prolific color and massive butterfly attraction in the fall! But it’s not just about the butterflies… Are you kidding? Of course, it’s all about the butterflies! Though they are one amazing visual benefits that October Skies Aster (Aster oblongifolius ‘October Skies’) delivers to your late-season landscape!

Asters are an extremely important nectar source for butterflies late in the season. Showy, long-lived blooms feed hungry animals from late summer, through fall up to frost. Let’s talk about those open, inviting, tender, lavender-blue blooms, which are shaped like a delicate Daisy. They feature a sweet yellow spotlight right in the center, which can be kind of hard to see, due to the sheer number of butterflies flitting from flower to flower!

One of the last plants to bloom in the season, and it is usually in full swing after the worst of the summer heat has passed. Smart gardeners plan for fall because they know they’ll LOVE entertaining outside surrounded by flowers – ‘flying flowers’ that is – without breaking a sweat. Hardy throughout USDA arctic zone 3 through mild zone 8, these have all the native adaptability and hardiness you’d expect from these wildflower cousins! Deer even leave them untouched!

Planting and Application:

This is a dwarf variety, much more compact than the species. It won’t flip or flop on you. It stays put and blooms its head off for you. This has a mounding habit, so you could place it near the edge of garden beds or use it as the filler in containers. Add seasonal décor to front entry pots and patio planters! Container gardeners without a yard or yard space can enjoy these late-season living decorations in windowboxes and balcony planters!

In the landscape, any garden with a couple of Asters in it becomes a pollinator garden! Vital nectar resources right when pollinators and bees need them most! Enliven your cottage and cut flower gardens, use as edging along paths, foundation plantings or around a statue or urn to further highlight it! Great facer plants and polite mounded growth look great when mixed among other perennials, ornamental grasses and edging garden borders!

• Cheerful Lavender-Blue Blooms
• Native Cultivar Selection
• Bee & Butterfly Magnet
• Fall Color Mainstay Wildflower
• Containers & Planters, Beds & Borders, Edging & Fall Décor

Tips for Care:

Super easy care when grown in moist, these herbaceous perennials prefer well-drained soil and full sun. Plant Asters in moderately moist to low moisture soil and a healthy bed of mulch to keep its roots cool and hydrated. This Aster doesn’t like to dry out in the summer heat. Pinching back the stem tips in late spring and early summer will produce denser growth and heavier blooming. This plant may be divided every few years in the spring.

• Full Sun Loving
• Adaptable Cold & Heat Hardy
• Moderate Moisture & Well-Drained Soils
• Pinch Back in Late Spring/Early Summer
• Deer Seldom Bother Them

Darling little plants with incredible versatility and adaptability in the landscape!