Aster novi-belgii | Marie Ballard

Asters belong to the Asteraceae family which also includes  achilleas  (yarrow) chrysanthemums and sunflowers. The Aster genus contains over 600 species and thousands of hybrids.  The New York Asters which Marie Ballard is always hold their flowers in sprays rather than individually.

Aster novi-belgii also known as "Marie Ballard" is a New York Aster, Michaelmas Daisy or Long-Leaf Aster and features masses of double large lavender blue flowers that are approximately 7.5cm in diameter that have a pretty sunshine yellow centre.  The flowers are held on slender branches stems with lance shaped mid green leaves and are a staple for the late summer garden as they flower well into mid sometimes late autumn and will brighten up any sunny corner of your garden.

An eye-catching aster, Marie Ballard is easy to grow, long lived and adds a cheery note to the autumn garden. A lovely plant to attract butterflies to your garden and one of the things we love about it, is that being rural, rabbits do not eat them!

Marie Ballard will thrive in full sun or will cope with some partial shade and enjoys medium moisture levels but does like a well drained position - its preferred growing conditions are moist rich soils - we add mulch to retain moisture here. Plants are drought tolerant once established.

A good choice for a coastal garden, cottage garden, perennial border and of course a must if you are wanting to create a butterfly garden, as is this little guy here

Plants should be split every few years to maintain flowering vigour and this is easily done in spring - division will also help to keep your plants more bushy. Ensure good air circulation as they can be prone to a bit of powdery mildew. Cut back to the ground in late autumn.

Asters are also highly valued as a cut flower so a vital ingredient in your cutting garden.

Perennial | Hardy

Height 90cm-1.2m x 40-60cm Wide

Plant size PB2 | Equivalent 1.2 litre