Symphyotrichum laeve (Smooth aster)

Symphyotrichum laeve, known as smooth blue aster or smooth aster, is a late blooming perennial. Among asters it is particularly well adapted to dry, well-drained soils and can tolerate poor conditions once established, owing to its increased usage in garden cultivation.

Smooth aster has a branching habit, with distinctive smooth, blue-green leaves. In late summer and fall, numerous daisy-like flower heads with pale blue to violet-blue rays surround a yellow center and bloom profusely, an excellent late season resource for pollinators. Visited by large and small native bees (including pollen specialists), butterflies, moths, skippers, and other insects.

The flowers create an attractive haze of blue and purple at a time when many earlier-blooming wildflowers have finished flowering, contrasting beautifully with the yellows of goldenrods (Solidago), the tan-gold of native grasses, and the whites and pinks of other fall-blooming asters.

Propagated from seed collected in the wild in Nelson County and Fairfax County, Virginia.