White Wood Aster - A Shade-Tolerant Wildflower Native to Eastern North America

The white wood aster is not terribly picky about its growing conditions, but it has a strong preference for some shade, and for drier conditions.  It can tolerate full shade, even quite deep shade.  It is one of the few fall-blooming plants that will grow and even flower at the base of trees in a forested area.

In terms of moisture and soil type, the white wood aster can handle average to dry conditions.  It will do fine in wet weather only if the soil it is planted in is well-drained.

This plant is not picky about soil, so long as it is well-drained.  It can tolerate gravel, well-drained clay, and grows equally well in soils rich and poor in organic matter.

There are two things that this plant generally cannot handle, however: full sun and soggy soil.  While it can take several hours of direct sun, it does not like full sun in exposed locations.

White wood aster makes an outstanding and attractive groundcover in shady areas.  The leaves have a distinctive and attractive shape.  Its shade-tolerance and the dense nature of its foliage allows it to hold its own against a number of weeds and other groundcovers.  It can even sometimes out-compete aggressive plants like English Ivy.

Another great use of this plant is in borders, especially rocky ones on shaded slopes.

You can also grow this plant, however, intermixed with other plants, adding variety and diversity to both foliage shape, and fall bloom color.  When grown among other plants, it is more likely to grow with an upright habit.

Vegetative: The white wood aster tends to grow somewhat colonially, spreading slowly by underground rhizomes.  Less commonly, it will spread by layering, with the stems rooting from nodes.  You can reproduce this plant both by division or by layering.

For division, isolate a stem or group of stems that is growing from a clump of these flowers, and dig them up, separating them from the root system and transplanting them to a new area.  The disruption of the root system may cause some of the leaves to wilt, but my experience is that these plants usually transplant easily, and after a month or so, they will be growing again.

For layering, bend a stem to the ground and cover it in soil or leaf litter, then return later when the buried part of the stem has grown roots, and separate it from the original plant.  Again, cutting the source stem may cause the leaves to wilt, but the plant will soon recover.

Shelter new plants that you have transplanted, divided, or layered, making sure they get ample water and are not exposed to too much direct sunlight.

From Seed: This plant is relatively easy to grow from seed; however, you may need a lot of seed in order to get good germination.  Because seed production is small though, I recommend being cautious about gathering seed from wild populations. Only gather from the wild in areas where this species is abundant.

If you don't want to bother growing the plants yourself, you can look for seedlings, which are often common around the parent plants.  But if you want to grow the plants yourself from seed, gather them in late fall or early winter, once they are mature but before they blow away in the wind.  Sow seeds in fall and many will germinate in spring.  If conditions are right and you use a lot of seed, you may even get some germination by merely scattering the seed, but keep in mind the seeds are loved by wildlife so many will get eaten if you scatter them.

Watch carefully for the tiny seedlings.  In shade, seedlings will grow slowly and may only reach a couple inches in height by the end of the first year.