← Bedfellow

Heath Aster

Symphyotrichum ericoides

Also known as: White Heath Aster

Heath aster looks like nothing much until September, when the whole bushy plant vanishes under hundreds of tiny white daisies packed so densely along arching side branches that the foliage disappears entirely. Those leaves are the reason for the name — narrow, stiff and needle-like, more heather than aster. It thrives on the poor, dry, gravelly ground where showier asters give up, and it is one of the last significant nectar sources of the season, carrying migrating monarchs and late bumblebee queens through October. Asters as a genus support an enormous number of native caterpillars and this one is among the most heavily used. It runs by rhizomes into wide low colonies, which is either the reason to plant it or the reason not to. Cut it back by half in early June and it returns denser and shorter without delaying bloom.

Family

Asteraceae

Type

wildflower

Lifespan

perennial

Height

1–3 ft

Spacing

1–1.5 ft apart

Light

sun

Soil moisture

dry

Soil pH

alkaline

Bloom

August, September, October

Bloom colors

white, pink, yellow, blue

Wildlife value

pollinators, butterflies, larval host

Caterpillar hosts

~109 butterfly & moth species

Landscape uses

border, naturalizing

Native states

AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, DE, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WY