I have grown perennial asters for several years now and I love their height, their boldness and their color. I did not dislike annual asters, I just completely ignored and overlooked them. This year I have corrected this, this year I decided to try annual asters and see what what I thought of them.
Well it turns out I like them a lot. Like their perennial cousins they are late to flower in the year, I rather like late flowerers as it means I have flowers late in the season.
There are rather furly-whirly,
and quite nicely paced in showing their full flower.
They mix in well in the border, though they are a bit heavy headed so do droop a little.
Some like to make a sideways appearance.
and they even look good in a mixed posy.
They were very easy to germinate and I shall definitely be growing them again. Like with several plants I have grown this year I am realising that they need to be grown more en-masse and less sprinkled about, I think they would make an even better effect then. This is something I always love about gardening as next year is always being planned and improvements always being thought of. It is a cycle of continuous improvement.