Climbing Aster (Ampelaster Carolianianus) – 1 Gallon Pot

Growth Habit / Form:  Climbing, Mounding

Growth Rate:  Very Fast!

Sun Needs:  Full Sun or Part Shade

Water Needs:  Average

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Ampelaster, commonly called Climbing Aster, is a wonderful North American native perennial plant adored for its climbing habit and flower power. It rapidly grows up to 10 foot long sprawling stems that can be attached to and sprawl over over fences, arbors and trellises or can allowed to ramble through and around shrubs or cover slopes and embankments. In the wild you might fight it growing in lowland marshes, on streambanks and other areas with soil that stays consistently moist, but it will also grow in average garden soils and even tolerates periodic dry conditions. It will tolerate some shade but in our gardens we’ve found that it flowers much heavier with 5 hours or more of direct sunlight. In mid to late fall the plant becomes smothered with clusters of 1-inch daisy-like disk-shaped flowers with purple to pink rays surrounding a yellow to orange center. Climbing aster is one of a few plants that’s blooming in our gardens when the leaves are falling, which makes it a great late-season nectar source for migrating monarch butterflies and other native pollinators.