Description

Key Information:

Soil: Hydric (Wet)
Sun: Full Sun – Part Sun
Height: 2 – 6 feet
Bloom Color: Purple
Bloom Season: August – October
*Salt tolerant*

More Details:

Suggested Uses: Swamp Aster is an excellent restoration plant for shorelines, moist meadows and large rain gardens. Can be found near calcareous fens. It flowers profusely in the fall and is an excellent source of nectar for bees and butterflies!

Native Range: Native to the Great Lakes, Appalachia and the Northeast. Native throughout Minnesota except for the southwest corner.

Pollinators: Bees and butterflies. Host plant for caterpillars of several butterfly and moth species. High-value nectar source for adult monarch butterflies.

Flowers: Like many aster species, Swamp Aster flowers have golden yellow disk flowers which are surrounded by slender light purple ray flowers.

Leaves: The linear, rough, sometimes-toothed leaves clasp directly onto a purplish hairy stem (no petiole).

Other Names: Red-stemmed Aster, Purple-stemmed Aster.

More information: USDA plant profile

Photo Credit: Robert H. Mohlenbrock @ USDA-NRCS