Symphyotrichum novae-angliae is a typical aster, with flower heads consisting of roughly 50 to 75 dark rose to deep purple ray florets ringing a button of 50 to 110 disc florets that are initially yellow but become purple with age.

upper stem leaves

There are quite a few other blue-purple flowering aster species in Maryland, but distinguishing them is a topic for an upcoming post.

flower heads forming

This species is found mostly in New England, of course, and in the upper mid-west and mid-Atlantic, but also ranges south through the Appalachians and into the Great Plains. In scattered areas of the West it’s found as a garden escapee. In Maryland, New England aster is found almost entirely from the Piedmont west, with just a few occurrences in the Coastal Plain.

pruned by rabbits!

The flowers pictured here are typical, but this particular plant is not. Usually New England aster sports one stem (or just a few) standing up to four feel tall; there may be some branching near the top. The plant shown here was pruned several times by rabbits before I got ’round to spraying repellent on it, hence the short, bushy appearance. New England aster grows in a variety of habitats, sunny to partly shady, almost always in moist to wet soils.

Clearly it makes a lovely garden plant if you can protect it from herbivory while it’s still small.