Virginia ecotype
- Duration: Perennial
- Habit: Upright, clump-forming, naturalizing
- Size: Typically 3 to 4 feet tall; equally as wide
- Flowering Time: August to October
- Bloom Color: Light lavender-purple with yellow centers
- Habitat: Brackish water, marsh edges, roadside ditches
- Moisture: Moist to wet; well-drained to consistently water-logged soils; not tolerant of drought
- Light: Full sun to part sun; best showing in full sun
- Soils: Tolerant of all soil types so long as moist
- Uses: Pollinator gardens, moist meadow plantings, rain gardens, wetlands, ditches, late-season color
Symphyotrichum novi-belgii (New York Aster)
Symphyotrichum novi-belgii is known as the New York Aster. It is a wet-footed aster typically growing around brackish water sources of the eastern coastline and bay. It also grows in non-braskish meadows and roadside ditches with ample moisture.
New York Aster has upright stems clothed in narrow lance-shaped leaves and, from late summer into fall, masses of daisy-like flowers in shades of violet, lavender, pink, or occasionally white, each surrounding a yellow center that turns red once pollinated.
It prefers soils with consistent moisture, though can adapt to a range of garden conditions so long as it doesn't experience severe drought. New York Aster's dense flowering habit and strong vertical presence make it a classic species for borders, rain gardens, and naturalistic plantings where it is allowed to run rampant and spread.
Symphyotrichum (asters) are by-and-large an important late-season nectar source, blooming when many other wildflowers have faded. Flowers support a wide variety of native and specialist bees, butterflies, skippers, and other pollinating insects, and they can be especially valuable for migrating monarchs fueling for their journey south. Like many asters, it also serves as a host plant for numerous moth and butterfly larvae.