Other Names:  Aster carolinianus, Lasallea caroliniana

Description:

A deciduous, climbing variety featuring a profusion of pleasantly fragrant, lavender-pink, daisy-like flowers appearing from late summer until frost; attracts pollinators and birds; perfect for fences, arbors, or garden walls; needs good air circulation

Ornamental Features

Climbing Aster has masses of beautiful fragrant lavender daisy flowers with pink overtones and yellow eyes at the ends of the branches from late summer to late fall, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has dark green deciduous foliage. The small pointy leaves do not develop any appreciable fall color.

Landscape Attributes

Climbing Aster is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous woody vine with a twining and trailing habit of growth. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance woody vine, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting birds, bees and butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Disease

Climbing Aster is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Climbing Aster will grow to be about 12 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. As a climbing vine, it tends to be leggy near the base and should be underplanted with low-growing facer plants. It should be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This woody vine does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant should not require much in the way of fertilizing once established, although it may appreciate a shot of general-purpose fertilizer from time to time early in the growing season. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This species is native to parts of North America..

Climbing Aster makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.