Download Blue Heart-leaved Aster `Avondale`

Blue Heart-leaved Aster ‘Avondale’
(Aster cordifolius)
1.5-3’ x 18” stout leafy plant.
CT native, found in woodlands, on stream banks.
Lovely clouds of small ¾”light blue flowers with
cheerful yellow centers, early fall. ‘Avondale’ is a
prolific bloomer, completely blanketing the plant.
Toothed pointed heart-shaped leaves.
Upright and
open in sun,
arching in
shade.
Sun to shade,
average, moist
to dry soil.
Pinching back
Stems before
mid-July helps
control height,
promote bushiness of plant.
A fine aster for masses or groups in
shade gardens, woodland edges,
native plant gardens, cottage gardens,
under trees, butterfly gardens.
Beautiful and long-lasting as filler
in autumn flower arrangements.
Attracts butterflies, skippers, bees,
and other beneficial pollinators.
Larval host for Silvery Checkerspot
And Pearl Crescent Butterflies.
One of most important fall nectar plants.
Photo 1 Mount Cuba Center
mtcubacenter.org/plant-finder/details/
symphyotrichum-cordifolium-avondale/
Photo 2 Ivo M. Vermeulen, NY Botanical Garden
nybg.org/images/press_room/images/
gardens_and_collections/gardens/native_
plant_garden/NPG-Flowers_IVO0319.jpg
Photo 3 Ivo M. Vermeulen, NY Botanical Garden
nybg.org/images/press_room/images/
gardens_and_collections/gardens/native_
plant_garden/NPG-Flower_IVO0230.jpg
Photos 4, 5, 6, 7 North Creek Nursery
northcreeknurseries.com/plantName/
Aster-cordifolius-Avondale
Creeping Phlox ‘Sherwood Purple’
(Phlox stolonifera)
6-10” low mats of semi-evergreen foliage, creep 2’,
or indefinitely. Can form large colonies in the wild.
Moderately fast spreader, via runners that root along
the ground.
Native to moist mountain woods and stream banks;
PA south.
Loose clusters of vibrant very fragrant clear-purple
flowers with five rounded overlapping petals, float on
thin 8” stems, in May.
Paddle shaped 1-2” deep green leaves.
Part sun to shady. Moist to medium, well-drained
humusy soils. Tolerates dry periods.
During the springtime cleanup, be careful not to
rake up this plant, as its hold in the ground is shallow.
When the soil is workable, sections of the plant can
be transplanted to bare patches, provided the
transplants are watered in dry periods.
Undemanding.
Vigorous ‘Sherwood Purple’ is the best variety of
P. stolonifera to use as a groundcover, and it doesn’t
compete with surrounding plants.
Attractive woodland ground cover, useful for shade
gardens, fronts of borders, rock gardens,
naturalized areas, and combined with spring bulbs.
Attracts butterflies, bees, hummingbirds.
Photo 1
Lisa Roper
Chanticleer Garden
chanticleergarden.org/5_3.html
Photos 2, 3, 5, 6
Longwood Gardens Plant Explorer
plantexplorer.longwoodgardens.org/weboi/oecgi2.exe/
INET_ECM_DispPl?NAMENUM=15662&DETAIL=1#images
Photo 4
Mount Cuba Center
mtcubacenter.org/images/PDFs-and-SWFs/2010-04_2.pdf
Switchgrass ‘Northwind’
(Panicum virgatum)
4-5’ x 2-5’, with a strongly vertical vase-shape
that stands straight through storms & winter.
One of the handsomest Switchgrass cultivars.
CT native, found in a wide variety of habitats,
including meadows, roadsides, bluffs, streambanks.
Sturdy olive to blue-green leaves, sometimes with
red-tinged tips, held straight. Pale yellow in fall.
Yellow-beige in winter, standing straight even in
heavy snow.
Fine airy pale yellow 6’ flower panicles, with reddishpurple seedheads, sway over foliage starting in July.
In fall the flowers turn golden-beige, then persist well
into winter, rustling and swaying.
Sun to part sun, keeps its form best in full sun.
Dry to wet soils, likes moist loam; easy, adaptable.
Divide after five years or so if center of clump dies out.
Use as vertical accent, in groups or
masses in garden borders,
meadows, hedges, screens.
Erosion control.
Stream buffers.
Low windbreak.
Song and game birds eat the
seed, and shelter in the grass
through winter.
Grasses are essential larval hosts
for most banded Skipper and
Satyr Butterflies.
Photos 1, 7
Mary Hockenberry Meyer
University of Minnesota, Department of Horticultural Science.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/meyer023/myblog/
Photos 2, 4
Missouri Botanic PlantFinder
www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder
Photos 3, 5 North Central Conservation District
Photo 6
Christopher Noll
University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point
wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/Detail.asp?Spcode=PANVIR