Native Plant of the Week: Calico Aster

Family: Asteraceae

Name: Symphyotrichum lateriflorum

Bloom Time: Aug-Oct

Flower: White flowers with dark pink or yellow centers

Soil Condition: Moist-dry

Light: Sun, Partial sun

Height: 2-3'

Native Range: Eastern and Central US including Long Island

Zone: 4-8

Photos: first: habit and flower, middle: 'Lady in Black' cultivar with a metallic green sweat bee, last: 'Lady in Black' cultivar with a eastern common bumble bee

Calico aster is a great fall blooming perennial that is also a keystone plant*. The common name comes from the variety of colors of the flowers center discs. The center discs range in color, white, creamy yellow and pinkish red. This plant does prefer afternoon shade or the leaves may scorch.

Maintenance: cut back calico aster 4th of July weekend for a tidier and more floriferous fall show

Benefits: great cut flower, great in a planter, nectar source, pollinators, host to the pearl crescent butterfly and 11 others of moths and butterflies, birds eat the seeds, supports 7 specialist bees

Noteworthy Cultivars: 'Lady in Black' - same flower and habit but with dark purple foliage that emerges in spring and then turns green with a hint of purple

Companion Plants: Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower), Penstemon hirsutus (hairy beardtongue), Panicum virgatum and cultivars (Switchgrass), Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot), Rudbeckia subtomentosa (sweet coneflower)

=============================================================

References:

1. https://newyork.plantatlas.usf.edu/plant.aspx?id=425

2. https://www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/Garden-for-Wildlife/Keystone-Plants/NWF-GFW-keystone-plant-list-ecoregion-8-eastern-temperate-forests.ashx?la=en&hash=1E180E2E5F2B06EB9ADF28882353B3BC7B3B247D#:~:text=Keystone%20plants%20are%20native%20plants,to%20complete%20their%20life%20cycle.

3. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/symphyotrichum-lateriflorum/

*Keystone Plant: native plants critical to the food web and necessary for many wildlife species to cojmplete their life cycle. (source NWF: for more info: https://www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/Garden-for-Wildlife/Keystone-Plants/NWF-GFW-keystone-plant-list-ecoregion-8-eastern-temperate-forests.ashx?la=en&hash=1E180E2E5F2B06EB9ADF28882353B3BC7B3B247D#:~:text=Keystone%20plants%20are%20native%20plants,to%20complete%20their%20life%20cycle.)

#pollinatorplants #gardeningwithnativeplants #indigenousplants #nativeplants