Plant Native: calico aster

Calico Aster, Symphyotrichum / Aster lateriflorus Height: 3-4’ Spread: 2’ Sun: Full sun to part shade Water: Medium wet to medium dry

This showy aster blooms in a cloud of thousands of tiny, star-shaped, pale pink flowers, concentrated mainly on one side of the spreading branches. With a profusion of nectar-rich flowers, this aster is king as a top notch native for pollinating insects. Each little flower has a ring of pale pink petals, surrounding a central cluster of tiny tubular flowers. It gets its common name from these multi-colored, rosy-red central disks. The central flower disk has short nectar tubes, making it especially attractive to the tiny native bees with short tongues. To create bushier plants, pinch the stems back in early summer. This aster grows naturally as a woodland plant, native to wet meadows and bottomland forests. In the garden it will bloom its best in full sun, but tolerates at least a half day of shade too. The beautiful selection ‘Lady in Black’ has darker pink flowers with dark stems and plum-tinged leaves.

Native plant recommendations from the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, plantnebraska.org