From Digging Dog Nursery in spring 2018.
Photos
Expectations:
A reliable and intense bloomer each October, very pretty. Cut these back by a third in June, early July for bushier plant. (Although I did that in my old garden and it never seemed to do much.)
Raydon's Favorite was a plant I loved in my old garden. Waterwise sells this as a well adapted native aster for Santa Fe.
For reference, the plants I grew back east got huge and were floppy and full to the bottom, not leggy at all. I had three by the gate, and that was too much.
I easily made cuttings and stuck individual plants around my gardens and they were all reliably flowery, fragrant (the foliage) and full. They bulked up immensely in just two years.
I easily made cuttings and stuck individual plants around my gardens and they were all reliably flowery, fragrant (the foliage) and full. They bulked up immensely in just two years.
Experiences:
Many of my old eastern favorites don't do well here, but I thought I'd try this and ordered a small one online.
The tiny plant I got took a long time to do anything and gets nowhere near as big and blowsy and full as it was in CT. It can stand upright on its own without falling over. After 5 years, in 2023, it is a small, vase shaped form with nice foliage, and it blooms well in fall.
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| 2023 -- In spring tucked behind the irises, and in full bloom in October |
In the partly shady spot near the garage wall, the flowers are a bright lavender, not the deep purple they were back east in sun. And although it flowers well, it is not covered densely with blooms.
My CT plants were not leggy at the bottom, but here it does not flop over or spill, it's an upright shape with bare stems at soil level. Nice enough, but not the showy, billowy plant I had previously.