Trial: Perennial
Years Trialed: 1998, 1999Good Qualities
Year 1
Lots of bulk. Nice white flowers; Nice spray of flowers; Uniform, tough plant, good form-habit; Vigorous. Heat tolerant; Good bloomer.Year 2
Nice filler. Lots of small white blooms; Very uniform, good stems; Make a nice garden plant; Good bloomer; Tall, lots of it;Problems
Year 1
Flowers late (2); Rust and mildew; Disease took over in August when plants were 3 inches tall and branching nicely. Bloomed last week but useless because of black foliage; Blooms all at once; Too few flowers open per stem at the same time, not very pretty. Flowers too small.Year 2
Must groom first buds that open and turns brown to get full effect; Very short harvest window; I really don’t like this one. The foliage gets ratty before flowers are ready and it was too short to do much with; Last year they were covered with powdery mildew so I moved them to high open area.; Comes on too fast and all at once; It never got to market this year, it froze hard by October 1, and made it look not pretty. Too bad as there was lots of it. Maybe next year.Year 2
I’ll try one more year but I don’t like Asters; Go for forcing, with day length manipulation for successive bloom flushes; This is a hard type of Aster for me to sell. Looks too much like native; Unable to market Asters, too woody.Trial Data
Year 1
| Yield (stems/plant)¹ | Stem Length (inches)¹ | Market Appreciation Rating² | Repeat Again Rating² | Ease of Cultivation Rating² | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 7.1 | 33.8 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 4.3 |
¹Data shown are from those respondents who harvested stems. Some respondents may not have harvested stems because they were too short. Flowering stems may be longer next year after plants are established. See comments section for more details.
²1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Year 2
| Yield (stems/plant)¹ | Stem Length (inches)¹ | Market Appreciation Rating² | Repeat Again Rating² | Ease of Cultivation Rating² | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 32.7 | 34.9 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 4.4 |
¹Data shown are from those respondents who harvested stems. Some respondents may not have harvested stems because they were too short. Flowering stems may be longer next year after plants are established. See comments section for more details.
²1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
Year 1
By August 30 it is 2 to 2 1/2 feet tall with a few showing. Must be day length sensitive. Would it make a good greenhouse, black-clothed specimen?; Not an exciting plant.