Key Takeaways
Asters have similar flowers to mums, but they’re more cold hardy and drought resistant.Full sun locations and minimal water and fertilizer will keep asters in bloom into fall.If you don’t want asters to self-sow, pinch the flowerheads away before they drop seeds.
Do you love the look of mums but want a replacement for fall that’s lower maintenance and a little more cold hardy? Native asters have a similar look and feel to mums, but they’re easier to care for, more cold-tolerant, and resistant to drought and deer damage, too.
Here’s a look at why you may want to make asters your new favorite fall flower, plus expert tips to keep asters in bloom well into autumn.
Meet the Expert
Ward Dilmore is a landscape designer and co-founder of Petrus Landscaping.
Sara Ressing is the education and program coordinator at Wild Ones.
Why Asters
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The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
Asters are a true fall plant: they’re cold hardy, deer and drought resistant, and provide a stunning variety of color.
“There are around 77 species of asters in North America, so you can find an aster for every habitat,” says plant expert Sara Ressing.
Not only are asters more drought-tolerant than mums, but they also grow perennially in most areas and don’t need to be replanted each spring. What’s more, asters are particularly important for pollinators, and many beneficial insects and other animals rely on these plants for late-season food and shelter.
Landscape designer Ward Dilmore has also been charmed by the late season color of asters and recommends growing them instead of florist’s mums.
“Asters may be a lesser known fall plant and they’re often overlooked as a beautiful late season bloomer, but they have a similar flower to mums,” he says. “They also have a more natural, native look to them and they’re much hardier, too.”
A Variety of Options
Ressing recommends native aster varieties, like aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium), smooth blue asters (Symphyotrichum laeve), and New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae).
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How to Help Your Asters Bloom
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The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
If you’ve grown mums in the past, you should have no problem keeping asters happy.
Certain types of asters can tolerate some shade, but most bloom best in full sun locations that receive at least six to eight hours of direct light per day. Aster plants also flower better if they’re provided with about an inch of water per week, but will tolerate dryer soil.
When it comes to fertilizing, easy does it with asters; native asters can actually stop flowering and develop droopy stems in overly rich soil. For this reason, you may want to skip fertilizing these plants altogether, or only feed them with a light application of compost once a year in spring or fall.
Aside from water, sun, and fertilizer considerations, Ressing offers one final tip for how she gets asters to grow well into autumn.
“Cut them back in late spring to early summer by about 1/3 to 1/2,” she says. “This will encourage the plant to bush out rather than up, and keeps them from flopping over.”
Special Considerations With Asters
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DebraLee Wiseberg / Getty Images
One of the best things about asters is that they tend to take care of themselves once they’re established in the garden and, unlike mums, most asters don’t need extra winter protection.
These plants are also generally resistant to pests and most diseases, but they can suffer from powdery mildew in humid conditions.
“This is mostly a cosmetic concern, but good air circulation, avoiding overhead watering, and not overcrowding plantings will keep powdery mildew in check,” Ressing says.
Like many other perennial flowers, asters should also be divided every few years to keep them growing and blooming well, and they will often self-sow if you let them.
Allowing asters to seed themselves can definitely be an advantage if you want to attract wild birds or don’t want to buy more plants for your garden. However, if you don’t want your asters to spread, simply pinch off old aster flowers before they dry fully and start dropping their seeds.
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