Michaelmas daisies

Fill your garden with these beautiful Michaelmas Daisies flowers, says Cathie’s Garden Army, and have beautiful blooms in Autumn

Tall, short, pink, purple, white… I love Michaelmas Daisies and they provide much needed late summer colour throughout September and into October.

Cultivation
These beautiful daisies are fairly drought tolerant (once established) and need a well drained soil. They don’t need fertilising and, in fact, flower better in poor soils. Some cultivars clump up more than others and could do with being divided after flowering or in the spring every three or four years. It’s best to weed out the little lilac wild ones, which can come from the seed of cultivated varieties, as they can take over a border.

Name Changes!
Aster is (or was) the easy-to-learn scientific name for myself and my horticultural students; but, now it has been re-classified and we have to use the new name ‘Symphyotrichum’ These new names to get to grips with include: Symphyotrichum novi-belgii cultivars; Symphyotrichum novae-angliae cultivars; Symphyotrichum x frikartii ‘Monch’ – this is a species croSs, that has large lilac flowers and is my absolute favourite!

Why Michaelmas?
Michaelmas is a minor Christian festival celebrated on Saturday, 29th September when many Asters ( sorry, Symphyotrichum) are at their best. Often we call the late August bank holiday Michaelmas too.