Sunday, May 3, 2020

In Jo's Yard - 59 Stokes Aster


In my Wildflower garden bed, I have Twinflower, Rain Lily, Tropical Sage, Scorpion-Tail, Milkweed, Goldenaster, Skullcap, Brown-Eyed Susan and Stokes Aster.  The Stokes Aster plant reminds me a little of the Starry Rosinflower plant – a group of leaves with stems and flowers rising up 10”-24”.  Stokes aster is named to honor the English physician and botanist Jonathan Stokes who became well known for his work using foxglove (digitalis) to treat heart failure” according to the University of Florida. 

The foliage is evergreen.  It prefers sun to partial sunny areas (my Wildflower garden faces East).  The flowers are abundant and frequented by pollinators.  The buds and flowers are quite lovely.  Pinch of the spent flowers to encourage more flowering.  Otherwise, they are very low maintenance.  I’ve read that you may need to divide mature clumps, but at two-years in my garden I have not had to deal with that yet.  The usual color, shown in photos from my garden below, is a kind of lavender, but I have read that it has been cultivated in other colors.  It is easy to collect the tiny seeds, if you want.

RESOURCES:  
 



                  Planted in July 2018, starting to bloom in September 2018      


Nov 2018  Stokes aster plants in various stages of bloom


                    April 2019 Monarch Butterfly visits Stokes Aster bloom 



No comments:

Post a Comment

In Jo's Yard - last post - Join Facebook group

 It has been a pleasure writing this blog, but it is time to move on.  My Villages Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society has started a...