re: aster problems

Dear Nan

It sounds like you may have Aster tartaricus in all its glory, and
probably have a feel for why the cultivar 'Jindai', at 4-5', is more popular.
You can try pinching it back several times before mid season and will
get a bushier and possibly a smaller plant.  You could also put it in
really poor soil, assuming you have a nice, undeveloped spot, and try
starving it into submission.  To avoid the seeding, wack it back to the
ground as soon as the flowers are done.  It is hardy to zone 3, so you
could try growing it in a large pot. Course, with the pot, it will be
10' tall, but you could claim it as garden sculpture!  You are fighting
the plant's nature, though, so it may be better to try a different
aster. 

You wouldn't be willing to part with a piece, would you?


> >
> >
> > Does anyone have problems with asters like I do?  I bought an aster mail
> > order a few years ago, it was labeled "late blooming aster" and it arrived
> > as a 3" plant.  It is now a 8x8 patch that grows at least 8 feet tall adn
> > blooms in late summer with light lavendar flowers.  As spectacular as it is
> > in flower, the darn thing seeds ands crawls all over the yard.  My husband
> > hates it and I am beginning to as well.  Do others have this  problem?  Is
> > it only this aster or is it only my yard?  how can I control the monster
> > without completely eliminating it?



-- 
Lisa Flaum
Waterloo,  SW Illinios, USA
Temp range -10F-105F (-24C-40C),  clay soil,
Winter wet, unreliable snowcover;  Summer dry, puctuated by downpores
Member NARGS, AHS, RHS, AGS, SRGC, IBS, APS, ACS (I like seed exchanges)

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