Virginia ecotype
- Duration: Perennial
- Habit: Upright, sometimes arching; often forms loose colonies via rhizomes and reseeding
- Size: 3 to 6 feet tall; 2 to 4 feet wide; may need support in bloom
- Flowering Time: August to October
- Bloom Color: Lavender to violet with yellow centers (turning reddish after pollination)
- Habitat: Wet meadows, swamps, marsh edges, ditches, and moist woods
- Moisture: Moist to wet; prefers consistently damp or seasonally saturated soil, cannot tolerate drought
- Light: Full sun to part shade; best showing in full sun
- Soils: Loamy, sandy, clay; tolerant of poorly drained conditions
- Uses: Wetland restoration, native plant gardens, pond and stream edges, rain gardens, pollinator habitats, moist meadows, lowland depressions
Symphyotrichum puniceum (Purplestem aster)
This moisture-loving aster is known as the redstem or purplestem aster, or the swamp aster. It's a tall autumn-blooming aster named for its often red or purple-tinged stems, and its habitation in coastal, seasonally-flooded or consistently wet regions.
Swamp aster blooms in late summer and fall, producing clusters of violet to light lavender flowers with yellow centers. As with many asters, upon successful pollination of a single flower the center gradually turns reddish-purple.
Asters in particular support a wide array of pollinators, especially native bees, including many specialist bees, and late-flying butterflies. It is also a host plant for several moths and butterflies, including the Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos).
Swamp aster needs consistent moisture, and is excellent for rain gardens, lake and river edges, moist meadows, depressions and ditches. It spreads moderately and doesn’t dominate wetland plant communities, making it a good companion plant. It can tolerate seasonal standing water for short periods and part sun or shaded areas, but performs best in consistently moist, sunlit areas.
Companion plants to consider include: Packera aurea (as a low groundcover), Clematis virginiana (vining), Lobelia cardinalis, and for tall support Common sneezeweed, Swamp Rose (Rosa palustris), and Joe-pye weed.
Synonymous with Symphyotrichum puniceum var. puniceum