Late Bloomer

As I was shopping the aisles of my local garden center a few years back, searching for flowering plants that would keep my cutting garden going until frost set in, I spied this lovely variety of Boltonia asteroides, ‘Pink Beauty’.

Named after the English botanist James Bolton, boltonia asteroides, is also sometimes referred to by its common name, false aster. The tag in the pot illustrated a frothy cloud of tiny, pinky-purplish pastel flowers, atop fine-textured, silver-blue foliage. With a promise to be an undemanding perennial, that would erupt with blooms beginning in August and stick around until late October, I was sold!

Just like the tall kids in your elementary school class pictures, she was planted in the back of the border, where she could shine, but not obstruct! Now mature, at a statuesque 5 feet, and thriving in full sun, the butterflies find her irresistible, but the deer don’t. Another Connecticut Country House miracle!

Heavily laden with blooms, the plant can have a tendency to get floppy, but neighboring plants give her the support she sometimes needs.

Whether the cut stems are kept long, and popped into an oversized glass vase, or cut short, and used as the base for small bouquets, as wonderful, airy filler, I couldn’t imagine my garden without her.

Keep your eye out for her next spring, and give her a go in your garden. By the time autumn comes around, you’ll be glad that you did!

Happy gardening and arranging!

Love, Nora