The Aster novi-belgii, New Dutch aster or autumn aster, has flowers that are reminiscent of daisies, with pink, lilac, purple or white flowers and with a yellow heart in the middle. The New Dutch aster is a true autumn bloomer and blooms from September until the first night frost in autumn, on average mid-October. The New Dutch aster is easy to cross with other species of the genus Aster. Cultivars do well in the gardens and add color and cheerfulness to the garden in autumn. The New Dutch aster returns every year.
- New Dutch aster (Aster novi-belgii)
- From America to Europe
- The cultivated New Dutch aster
- Description New Dutch aster
- Leaf and stem
- Flowers
- Fruit
- The aster as a symbol
New Dutch aster (Aster novi-belgii)
The New Dutch aster is a perennial plant of the Asteraceae family (family of composites), from the genus Aster. The Aster ageratoides is the autumn aster, but the New Dutch aster is also popularly called autumn aster, just like other autumn-flowering plants from the genus Aster:
- Smooth aster (Aster laevis), flowers from September to October;
- Narrow aster (Aster lanceolatus), blooms from late summer until well into autumn;
- Small aster (Aster tradescantii), blooms from September to November;
- New English aster (Aster novae-angliae), blooms from August to October.
From America to Europe
The New Netherlandish aster is native to northeastern North America. In 1624, a province called New Netherland was founded on the east coast of North America. In 1674 the name New Netherland came to an end and the most important city of New Amsterdam was renamed New York as a tribute to the English Jacobus Stuart, Duke of York. The New Netherland aster plant owes its name to the area in North America that was still called New Netherland in the seventeenth century. The plant was brought to Europe from North America in 1710. There, this garden plant quickly became feral, which means that the autumn aster is found in nature reserves in the 21st century.
From exotic to indigenous
The New Amsterdam aster came to the Netherlands centuries ago as an exotic. Floristic Research Netherlands (FLORON) has the rule that an exotic must be able to survive for three generations in different locations before it is indigenous. The New Dutch aster is therefore a native plant in the 21st century. However, the Critical Forest Management Foundation believes that plants that have come to the Netherlands through human intervention should not be counted as indigenous flora, even if it was centuries ago. The wild species in nature reserves has the status of rare plant in the 21st century.
The cultivated New Dutch aster
The New Dutch aster is often grown as a garden plant. The flowers that color the autumn garden make it a beloved garden plant that thrives in the gardens of the Netherlands and Belgium. The choice of color is large with the cultivated New Dutch aster. Some cultivated varieties and colors are:
| Name aster | Color |
|---|---|
| novi-belgii ‘Blue Danube’ | soft blue |
| novi-belgii ‘Jenny’ | purplish red |
| novi-belgii ‘Leuchtfeuer’ | red |
| novi-belgii ‘Patricia Ballard’ | pink |
| novi-belgii ‘Royal Ruby’ | Ruby red |
| novi belgii ‘Weisses Wunder’ | white |
Description New Dutch aster
The New Dutch aster is a perennial and can give a beautiful color in the garden from the end of August to sometimes well into October until the first night frost. In winter, the plant loses its leaves to get new leaves in the spring. The plant can reach a height of half a meter to more than a meter. The New Dutch aster does well in the garden in a spot in the sun with timely shade and in soil that is rich in nutrients and humus. The wild plant can be found in moist places along streams and river banks. The New Dutch aster is an important food source for pollen seekers in autumn. Where other plants stop producing pollen and / or nectar, the New Dutch aster is in full bloom. The New Netherlandish aster can spread through root shoots. With the plant in the garden, this is a way to propagate the plant.
Leaf and stem
The New Netherlandish aster has a sturdy, square-like, quite red colored and hairy stem. The upright stem is quite bare towards the bottom. The elongated pointed leaves encircle the stem and form new petioles with leaves above the green leaf. The underground runners allow the aster to fill in areas that nothing else will grow under.
Fungus on the leaves
The leaves of the New Dutch aster can show a white deposit in dry and warm weather. This is the result of a parasitic fungus or mildew, also called white disease. After some time, the fungus darkens and the browning leaves curl up and fall off. In the garden, the plant can be sprayed preventively with an infusion of horsetail. Field Horsetail is another name for horsetail. By spraying a decoction of dried horsetail in time, the mildew can be prevented. Horsetail contains a lot of silica and pectic acid that ensures a stronger cell wall of the plant, making it more difficult for fungi to attack the plant.
Flowers
The New Dutch aster flowers from August until the first frost in the autumn. The plant blooms with many small star-shaped flower heads that resemble the daisy. The flower heads are at the end of the flower stalk and the yellow center of the flower heads consists of many tubular flowers. There are elongated ray flowers around the center of the flower. Ray flowers of the New Netherlandish aster never have more than three small recesses (teeth) at the top of the petal. The asters for the garden have colors such as white, pink, red, lilac, blue, violet to dark purple. The color of the rays of the wild New Netherlandish aster is always pale blue to sky blue. In the New Dutch asters in the garden and in the wild New Dutch asters, the flower heads are on average 12 to 20 millimeters.
Fruit
The fruit is a nut but the plant propagates through the shoots of the roots.
The aster as a symbol
Like many flowers, the genus Aster from the composite family has a symbolic meaning. The aster, including the New Netherlandish aster, stands for autumn joy and happy old age. Aster therefore represent the wisdom you get as you grow older. The older the wiser.
