Common Name: aster
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Asteraceae
Native Range: Central United States
Zone: 8 to 9
Height: 1.00 to 2.50 feet
Spread: 1.00 to 2.00 feet
Bloom Time: August to November
Bloom Description: Lavendar to pale purple rays with yellow disks
Sun: Part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Flower: Showy, Good Cut
Attracts: Butterflies
Tolerate: Drought
Culture
Winter hardy to USDA Zones 8-9 where they are best grown in consistently moist to wet soils in part shade. Tolerates full sun. Also tolerates some soil dryness, but soils should never be allowed to dry out.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Eurybia paludosa, commonly called southern swamp aster or grass-leaved aster, is a herbaceous perennial that grows on upright stems to 12-30” tall. It is native to moist savannas, margins of swamps and springs, low pinelands, and open hammocks in the Atlantic coastal areas of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and the far northeastern tip of Florida. It is infrequently also found on drier sand hills of the coastal plain.
Basal, narrow, linear, grass-like leaves (2-8” long) lack both a defined mid-rib and a sheathing base. Short-stalked to stalkless stem leaves appear, albeit somewhat sparsely, on the stems which are often reddish. Flowers bloom in corymbiform arrays from late summer through most of fall (August-November). Each flower head (to 1-2” diameter) features up to 35 lavender to pale purple ray flowers (each ray to 7/8” long) surrounding a dense center cluster of up to 30 yellow disk flowers.
Specific epithet means of marshes in reference to the marsh-loving habit of this plant.
Common names mentioned herein are in reference to common habitat (southern swamps) and narrow leaves (grass-leaved) plus a reminder that this wildflower was formerly known as Aster paludosa.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Native plant gardens. Borders. Stream or pond margins. Underplanting for moist lowland areas.