Frikart’s aster in the perennial borders of the Orchard Gardens (by Clayton Bass).

Scientific name:  Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’

Common names: Frikart’s or ‘Monch’ aster

Family: Asteraceae

Article by Susan Bruneni

Everyone knows and loves the seasonal native asters that bloom freely around Santa Fe. In late summer and fall, asters provide a massive show of lavenders, purples and golds. And baby asters are among the first to greet us in spring with tiny ½-inch white flowers. But thanks to Swiss nurseryman, Carl Ludwig Frikart (1879 – 1964), the magnificent hybrid A. × frikartii ‘Monch’ provides two-inch lavender-blue ray flowers that bloom continuously from early summer  through late fall (disk flowers are golden yellow). The “Monch” grows best in full sun, and moist but well-drained soil. Spent blooms need to be removed for continuous blooming. The Frikart aster has been named one of the top 20 garden perennials by Sunset Magazine.

In 1918, Frikart began working with A. amellus, known as the Italian aster and A. thomsonii, an Asian aster able to thrive in dry areas. By 1924 he had produced four original hybrids, basically differing in shade of blossom color. ‘Monch’ and the others were all named for mountains in the Swiss Alps that overlook the Bernese Oberland.

Frikart’s aster will be available at Santa Fe Botanical Garden’s annual plant sale, scheduled this year for May 23 & 24, 2014 at the Botanical Garden at Museum Hill. Specimens of the available plants are growing at the Botanical Garden, and are either native, or have proven to thrive in the Santa Fe habitat.

Friday, May 23, 2014 from 4 pm – 6 pm is the members’ only preview sale (memberships for sale at the door). Saturday, May 24, 2014 from 9 am until noon is open to the public.

A number of sages, sedums, salvias, lavenders, penstemons, thymes and many other plants will be offered.

Butterfly on Frikart’s aster (Photo by Don Nofte)

Native varieties of asters found at one or more of the SFBG sites are:

Baby aster (Chaetopappa erocpodes) 2-8 inches tall, with ½-inch white ray florets, with yellow disk florets.  Blooms May-June.

New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) late summer to frost. Lavender to purple ray flowers, yellow to reddish purples disk flowers, 1 ½ inch bloom.

Hairy Golden aster (Heterotheca villosa) yellow ray with darker disks, blooms July through late fall.

Marsh aster (Symphyotrichum lanceolatum) Marsh aster small white to pale pink ray flowers with yellow to red/purples disks. August – October in wet places.

References:

www.gardening.cornell.edu/

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Harlow-Carr/About-Harlow-Carr/Plant-of-the-month/October/Aster-x-frikartii-Mönch

plants.usda.gov