The Aster is amongst the most distributed flowers worldwide for commercial purposes, because of its beautiful appearance and the ability to fit almost every decorative floral arrangement considering its vivid and unique colors. Very sought in the world of florists, this flower has reached a high level of notoriety and is now cultivated worldwide, mostly in the hardiness zones. Australia and Antarctica don’t possess a favorable soil for the development of this plant and so the cultivation process in these areas is inexistent. If you know someone who is a gardener and you want to offer a lovely gift, then the Aster is one of the great gardening gifts that you should consider.
The Aster belongs to the family of Asteraceae and at first; botanists had trouble with classifying this genus. Before the 1990’s it was considered that the genus contained around 650 species, but after this year the specialists decided that it was better to include some species in other categories and other particular genera, and so the Aster genus now comprises of only 180 species. Some of the most famous species of this genus are: Aster alpinus, Aster amellus, Aster divaricatus, Aster ericoides, Aster pilosum (also known as Frost Aster) and so on.
The name of Aster comes from the ancient Greek and it refers to the shape of a star, the Aster being amongst those multicolored flowers which delight our eyes with their innocent appearance and their joyful colorfulness. They are known to bloom from August through October, but there have been cases when these flowers were even found in late December.
The Aster is generally known as the September flower or as the Michaelmus daisy. Even though the Aster can resist up until Christmas, the flower is available to buy all year long through importation from other countries. Very appealing to use at creating bouquets or arranging one’s house, the Aster is mainly cultivated and grown in personal gardens where the care and attention of the owners seems to be just what this flower needs to reach maturity. Very resistant and un-pretentious to the properties of the soil, the Aster can grow even in the areas with less sun or partial shade and also, it can grown in cold and temperate climates. This resistance is one of the reasons why the Aster plant is one of the great gardening gifts. It does not need a lot of maintenance the gardener doesn’t have to spend a lot of money on soil. You can even offer it to someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience with gardening.
One curious thing about the Aster flower is that it doesn’t bloom in yellow or orange shades and it’s only available on white, violet, blue and even purple. The flower does not wither up until 10 day after its cutting and so this makes it even more sought by the florists who are continuously seeking for resistant and beautiful flowers to contribute to their unique floral arrangements.
Many species of the Aster genus and many hybrids are known to be grown indoors, as people have come to appreciate the beauty of this flower and have found it comfortably easy to cultivate for decorative purposes.
Aster Pictures Gallery
