The Importance of Stellar Symphyotrichums and Asters as Fall Blooms for Pollinators

The Importance of Stellar Symphyotrichums and Asters as the Fall  Blooms for Pollinators

Asters are the stars of Autumn for pollinators.

Asteracea, is a large family of flower species.  The word “Aster” comes from the Greek word for “star” because of the star shape of the flower head. Asters look like daisies.  Petals radiate from centers like shining stars.

Yesterday, I saw a Monarch butterfly check out a purple perennial phlox, then fly away.  Do you see pollinators hover over your flower garden this time of year and then quickly move on?

• Butterflies and bees fly with clear intent, on a mission from flower to flower.  Bees check each flower thoroughly moving petals apart.  All attention is focused on nectar and pollen levels.  Pollinators are  hungry and need food and drink to maintain energy.

What is energy needed for?  

Pollinators need food for energy because they spend most of their time in the air. As aviators and flying conditions, to keep butterflies and bees airborne takes fuel which is a lot of nectar and pollen.  Think of the act of flight and how much fuel and energy is needed to defy gravity, takeoff and stay in the air with wind currents.  Honey bees do not fly in strong winds. Strong winds toss and turn smaller bees off course more than the larger bumble bees. Larger “wide-body” bumble bees are better adapted to fly on windy days, but Bumble bees are solitary bees and do not live in hives.  Bumble bees need to forage constantly.   

Bees and butterflies are very active flyers in Autumn. Honey bee scouts are the “frequent flyers” of honey bee world.  Watch a bee hive.  Scouts “take off” from hive entrances and you count seconds and minutes during the flurry of mid-August through September.  Meanwhile back at the beehive, the Queen, her attendants, nurse bees, young bees, housekeeping bees and workers do not leave the hive in Fall.  The scouts fly out and pick up nectar and pack pollen on furry legs to return to the hive to share food.  Honey bees use mutualism and community effort. Workers move extra to storage cells for winter months. One reason for bee colony decline is bees run out of food stored in beehives by January and February.

Monarch butterflies fly a migratory route that covers Canada, United States and Mexico.  Monarchs do not fly in the rain.  Water weighs down delicate wings.  Monarchs need heat energy to “warm up” to move their wings.  Monarchs fly12 miles per hour and fly 50 miles a day in good weather.

Because of these special flying needs, Monarchs and honey bees face competition among other pollinators like the “all-weather” wasps and flies.

• By mid-August, summer flowers are depleted of nectar and pollen. It takes time to regenerate nectar in flowers, and many have simply gone to seed.

Now you can begin to understand and appreciate the importance of planting late blooming flowers to feed pollinators when they need it the most.  

Which native perennials are available in your region for late season pollinators?     

Native perennials to the rescue!

• Blue Asters, Sneezeweed, Purple Coneflower, Goldenrod, Spotted Joe Pye Weed, Ironweed and Boneset are perennial plants in the Aster family.  Asters come in all shapes and sizes:  eight inches to eight feet.
•  A good tip is to plant taller asters along back borders and set low growing Sneezeweed or Stiff Goldenrod in front for a full, two-tier meadow look in Fall gardens.      
• Imagine seeing  a patch of hardy blue New England Asters, deep purple and pink daisies, mixed in with Panicled White Asters to naturalize a wildflower look.            
•  Pollinators see Asters as a Fall harvest banquet that comes just in time.
•  Gardeners see complimentary colors of purple and yellow blooms creates a warm and lively combo together.                   

In American Beekeeping “How Bees See and Why It Matters” bees see differently than humans. They see more blues and ultraviolets.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-11971274

Bees see halos in center of daisies.  This blue halo directs bees to flowers.

See the blue halo.  Photo Science Magazine

Stellar Symphyotrichums Variety –  Seven Stars of Fall Blooming Gardens

Here are five “blue star” pollinator plants:

New England Aster, Smooth Blue Aster, Blue Wood Aster, Aromatic Aster and Ironweed are all true blue flowers.

• Bees are attracted to blue colors and blue-violet flowers.  Grow blue Asters and see bees visit your Symphyotrichums.    
• Blue flowers are more rare in the plant world than other colors.        

Four Blue Stars of Fall Gardens 

What makes Asters so stellar, besides having the name Aster which means star? 

Asters thrive in clay soils.  Native perennials that can grow in clay are hardy plants and able to establish roots in dense clay soil and spread the next year.   

1Symphyotrichum novae-anglia

New England Aster

1 Symphyotrichum novae-anglia  New England Aster is a blue, pink to deep purple, vigorous plant that goes in open sunny and dry soils.  New England Asters look great as a back border of home gardens.   It grows two to three feet.  In a naturalized look, New England Asters create a spectacular deep purple meadow in a wildflower garden.        

2 Symphyotrichum laeve

Smooth Blue Aster

Smooth Blue Aster is used for prairie gardens.  Smooth Blue Aster is a popular native wildflower for butterfly pollinator gardens.  It is light to Pale purple with a yellow center. Smooth Blue Aster grows in August up to frost.

Symphyotrichum laeve Smooth Blue Aster grows as a mass of blue blooms.  Grows in full sun, but tolerates some wet soils.

3 Symphyotrichum cordifolium

Blue Wood Aster

3  Symphyotrichum cordifolium  Blue Wood Aster looks charming below trees and wooded settings. Grows in sun and shade.  Plant Blue Wood Asters near the edge of where the sun meets the shade of trees or near a clearing of woodlands. 

4  Eurybia divaricata

 White Wood Aster

Eurybia divaricata White Wood Aster grows in shade.  

In home gardens, plant White Wood Asters in shady spots.  White Wood Aster grows well in open, dry woodlands.  Reclassified recently to the Eurybia family, White Wood Aster was in the Aster family.  White Wood Aster grows well in forests and woods.

White Wood Aster grows very well here in Pennsylvania. “Penn’s Woods” is a mostly forested state.

5  Symphyotrichum oblongolium

Aromatic Aster

Smell Aromatic Aster and the name says it all.  Crush a leaf in your hand and release a wonderful balsam fragrance.  On a late summer day, walk through a garden and follow your nose to the warm spicy scent of  blue Aromatic Asters.   This is an Aster for the senses.  Aromatic Aster engages sight, smell and touch  to remember a warm sunny day in Fall.          

6 Symphyotrichum ascendens

Western Aster

6  Symphyotrichum ascendens Western Aster is a native perennial, pale blue Aster with a yellow center. Western Aster grows to four feet.  The Western Aster blooms late July to October in Western states.

7 Symphyotrichum lanceolatum

  Panicled Aster or White Panicled Aster

 Symphyotrichum lanceolatum   White Panicled Aster or Panicled Aster  is the only Aster found in all of the Continental United States.

Panicled Aster is a “natural” choice for all Wildflower gardens.  Panicled Aster is a dainty white wildflower.  Panicled Aster looks “fresh as a daisy” in meadow, wildflower gardens and visually interesting in rock gardens.

See USDA map of green of Panicled Aster in all continental United States.

https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SYLA6#

More Fall Blooming Flowers in the Aster Family for Pollinators

Four Yellow Asters

1  Helenium autumnale Sneezeweed

https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=HEAU

 

Helenium autumnale Sneezeweed is like the Panicled Aster as it is also found native to all of the Continental United States.

If you closely look at the petal edge of Sneezeweed or Dog Tooth Daisy, you can see the distinctly notched “dog tooth.  Sneezeweed is a member of the Aster family (Asteraceae).

Helenium autumnale  Sneezeweed is a yellow daisy flower for Fall blooms. Sneezeweed brings a sunny summer day feel to cool brisk days.  It grows low to the ground, eight inches to a foot.

Often called Sneezeweed because it was used to cure sneezes, not cause sneezes.

2  Coreopsis tinctoria Plains Coreopsis

https://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=coti3_1h.jpg

Coreopsis tinctoria Plains Coreopsis, or Golden Tickseed, is used in gardens. As a native perennial in the Aster family, Plains Coreopsis or Golden Tickseed needs some fertilizer. Plains Coreopsis grows to four feet. Plains Coreopsis is a red/yellow flower that looks similar to Blanket Flowers. The difference is this Golden Tickseed needs moisture or grows in bottomland locations.  Plains Coreopsis needs extra care to grow in larger meadows.

 3  Rudbeckia hirta Black Eyed Susan

Rudbeckia hirta  Black Eyed Susan has deep golden yellow petals and a velvety brown “eye” center. Rudbeckia hirta is a well recognized Aster.

• A field of Black Eyed Susans is a glitter of gold used for erosion control on hillsides and fields.
• Black Eyed Susans is a classic “anchor” for wildflower home gardens.
•  A hardy plant, Rudbeckia hirta grows in sun and dry soils.
• Once established, Black Eyed Susans reseed and perpetuate indefinitely as a stand of wildflowers.

4  Solidago rigida Stiff Goldenrod

USDA Solidago rigida Stiff Goldenrod

Solidago is in the Asteracea family, which shows just how many different flowers and  shapes are Asters. Solidago rigida Stiff Goldenrod is a fuzzy “gold” yellow flower that blooms in late season.

Goldenrod does not cause allergies or hay fever. Goldenrod is often mistaken for ragweed.

Echinaceas in the Aster Family

Four species of Echinacea Coneflower

No matter where you live in the continental United States, you can find a native perennial coneflower. Wildflower gardens include coneflowers to attract pollinators and wildlife.

The popular Echinacea Coneflower can be found in every region according to the University of Illinois, according to land grant university extension services at Illinois extension.”

1  Echinacea purpurea Purple Coneflower

Echinacea purpurea Purple Coneflower is a popular flower in Eastern and Central region. This deep pink “star” Aster has a distinct “cone” head or “hedgehog” center.  The cone description Echinacea comes from the Greek word hedgehog, because of the raised spikes of the flower head.

Echinacea likes sun and dry soil. Echinacea is a native and cultivated flower.  Pairs well with Black Eyed Susans in gardens.

Golfinches love purple coneflowers for plucking the dried brown seeds in late August and September. Goldfinches come in flocks to coneflowers.

Purple coneflower and American Goldfinch. Copyright Photo: Will Stuart   

2 . Echinacea pallida Pale Purple Coneflower for Central region.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pale Purple Coneflower is used in prairie restoration and landscaping.  Grows in dry soils.

3  Echinacea angustifolia Narrow leaf Purple Coneflower   

Narrow Leaf Purple Coneflower

Echinacea angustifolia Narrow Leaf Purple Coneflower is native to the Plains and Plains Indians medicine.

 4  Echinacea paradoxa, Yellow Coneflower, is native specifically to the Ozarks.

USDA also lists name known as Bush’s Purple Coneflower.  Maybe the paradox is the Bush’s Purple Coneflower is yellow and not purple.

Also, Echinacea paradoxa, Yellow Coneflower, is a coneflower and not to be confused with Black Eyed Susan, a Rudbeckia.

USDA Echinacea paradoxa, Yellow Coneflower

https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=ECPA2

 

Two White Asters that Attract Pollinators in Fall With a Carpet of White

Eupatorium perfoliatum Common Boneset or Thoroughwort

 

Boneset has the umbel shape of flower that is a favorite of all pollinators.  This flattened top is easy to land and retrieve nectar. A good way to remember umbel shape is an open umbrella of blooms and a carpet of white flowers. Eupatorium perfoliatum grows to two to four feet.  Boneset is an Aster.

Achillea millefolium  White Yarrow

White Yarrow is in the Aster family. White Yarrow looks like a large landing field of white blooms to a bee or butterfly. Honey bees prefer this flower because it is “easy to get in and easy to get out” of the flower throat. White Yarrow is like a fast food place for bees and butterflies.

Two Deep Pink and Purple Asters that Grow in Moist Soil 

Eutrochium maculatum Spotted Joe Pye Weed

USDA photo of Eutrochium maculatum Spotted Joe Pye Weed

Eutrochium maculatum Spotted Joe Pye Weed is not a weed.  Spotted Joe Pye Weed is an Aster.  It is a pink to light purple native plant that likes moist, but sunny soil.  Stem color ranges from green to light purple.  Spotted Joe Pye Weed grows two to four feet with a more compact habit than other larger Joe Pye Weed species.

Vernonia fasciculata Ironweed

Photo copyright by Minnesota Wildflowers

https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/prairie-ironweed

Vernonia fasciculata Ironweed lives in moist soil and part shade. It grows two to four feet.  Ironweed has an intense purple color and upright form.  Naturalize to form a purple blanket.  Ironweed is a striking plant where it grows. Ironweed is one of my favorite plants.  You can not miss it in a landscape.  

Blanket Flower is in Sunflower and Aster Family

Gaillardia aristata Blanket Flower

USDA Gaillardia aristata Blanket Flower

https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=GAAR#

Gaillardia aristata Common Gaillardia Blanket Flower

The adaptable Blanket Flower is a member of the sunflower and Aster family.  Blanket flower grows in a wide range of soils, loams, rocky to gravelly-sandy textures.

• A low profile plant, Blanket Flowers tolerate a soil pH range from slightly acidic to mildly alkaline.
• Blanket Flower is a bright red and yellow ornamental flower in gardens.  Blanket Flower is a fine rustic wildflower for low maintenance landscaping.  Prefers sunny, well-drained soils.

This Fall season plant a collection of Asters to see a lively active garden of blooming native wildflowers for pollinators.                  

References

Morgridge Institute for Research Blue Sky Science “Do Plants Produce Nectar Every Day?”

Bee Culture, the American Beekeeping magazine article: How Bees See and Why It Matters

Mother Nature Network the science of blue flowers

www.audubon.org/native-plants

“Bring more birds to your home with native plants.

thewildflowerprojectmn.org

Plants USDA.gov

University of Illinois Extension

University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension

University of California Davis Arboretum

BONAP net map