I’ve long used Asters in our landscape designs to extend the garden season into fall. One of the most popular Asters has to be Aster ‘Purple Dome’. It’s also a plant that continues to frustrate me. This is the common growth habit of Aster ‘Purple Dome’.
Even with all those flower buds, it’s hard to get excited about this plant! Year after year, the lower foliage rots away by late summer, yet it’s one of the most popular Asters out there. Sure, you can hide the lower foliage by placing a smaller plant around its base but why bother? I’m all about easy plants! That got me thinking. What other Aster varieties are out there that would give a similar flower display, yet also provide better disease resistance/growth habit? There are hundreds of closely related Asters. There had to be some that were better than this frustrating plant. Isn’t this why we use natives? Because they are supposed to be easy and take care of themselves?
One native Aster we have found and have fallen in love with and has become one of our go to fall flowering plants is Symphyotrichum oblongifolium ‘October Skies,’. In our gardens, it has been a consistent bloomer with relatively no disease issues. Although the height of each plant is similar, ‘October Skies’ being slightly taller, ‘October Skies’ has a much bushier growth habit than ‘Purple Dome’. Each plant will occupy quite a bit more real estate. I’ve found that the listed size of October Skies Aster isn’t that accurate. All over the internet, the listed size of October Skies is listed as 18”x24”. After using this plant in many gardens for many years, I’d say the size is more like 24” tall by 30”, maybe even 36” wide. As with all Asters, deer can be an issue. You won’t need to spray this plant early in the season. If a deer nibbles on the plant in the spring/early summer the plant will recover by fall. Deer will provide a ‘free’ heading back and will reduce the overall height and width of the plant. If needed, I’d start spraying for deer monthly from the beginning of July through the end of the season.
If you are tired of ‘Purple Dome’, I highly recommend you try October Skies. Happy gardening!
1 thought on “Aster ‘Purple Dome’ Alternatives”
I’m so glad I found this article. I planted twelve Aster Purple Dome over the summer and mine look just like yours. The bottoms are brown and defoliated and the tops have beautiful purple blooms. I guess I’ll plant something shorter in front of them to hide their ugly stems and switch to October Skies from here on in – thank you for the suggestion! I have a large yard and actually like the way yours look like shrubs.