Asters by Jacqueline Aviolet, August's meeting

 Our speaker in August was Jacqueline Aviolet on her specialist topic of Asters. Jacqueline
was a return speaker; she has been to us before and always gives a very lively, enjoyable
and fun presentation. She also brought many varieties for us to purchase for the bargain
price of £2.
Jacqueline told us that in the fashion to rename plants these are now officially called
Symphyotrichum but we will probably stick to calling them Asters. Who is going to
remember all these new complicated names? The common name is Michaelmas daisy and
this is because they will be in flower on Michaelmas day, 29th September. If anyone is ever
visiting the Malvern area in late summer there is a specialist nursery and gardens called the
Picton Gardens that is worth a visit.
An interesting little fact is that you can tell if the bees have visited the flower because the
centre is yellow until the bee has been in for its pollen and then turns mauve. This way the
bees know whether the pollen has already been taken by another bee. They can all be
used to make dye, which will be a shade of yellow.
Jacqueline said she doesn’t follow Monty’s advice on giving them the Chelsea chop (where
you cut the growing stems down by half in May) largely because she wants the cuttings. I
do give mine the Chelsea chop it makes them slightly stronger, thicker and shorter which I
like, but it’s up to you. Her other growing tips are to keep them well watered and put mulch
or fallen leaves in the Autumn as they prefer a bit of moisture. They like a neutral to acid
soil. The biggest problem with them is mildew, but this is apparently to stop the animals
eating them. They can also get a mite, which disfigures them and will spread to
strawberries, and Aster wilt in which case you need to destroy, preferably by burning and
not putting on the compost heap. With the larger headed versions, you may need to give
them some staking or they may fall over.
Jacqueline showed us all how to take cuttings and gave everyone a cutting to take home to
test our green fingers! We will have to see how successful members were in due course.