Buy Eurybia divaricata

From the family of true garden workhorses this fall-blooming aster will enjoy the shade, offering its starry white flowers with mahogany stems from midsummer into fall. Lush, 16" tall and spreading, this is an incredibly versatile and useful plant: an airy ground cover, amenable to sun, shade, or even dry shade when established, attracts butterflies and bees, offers seeds in winter to juncos, goldfinches, and sparrows, provides fluffy nesting material, is deer- and rabbit-resistant, tolerates moist or dry soils of many compositions, is disease-resistant...need we say more? Okay - natural to woodland gardens, (an eastern US woodland native), works also in cottage gardens, or even a soft filler in a formal garden. Yet it is so unassuming at first glance. Workhorse it is! Minimum temperature: -30°F

Small white flowers like finely cut daisies, with a yellow center, and elongated heart-shaped, coarsely toothed, dark green leaves, are displayed in large clusters on sinuous, purple-black stems. This Aster is better-known in Europe, where it's used to light up shady urban gardens. We find it indispensable in the country too, for its tolerance of dry, shady sites. A good plant for the front of the border, try it with Hypericum kouytchense or broad-leafed perennials.

The showiest of the shade-loving Asters! Aster divaricatus dons clusters of bright white flowers in late summer, brightening up the late season woodland scene. The glossy, deep green foliage of the White Woodland Aster looks great all season. Plant with early blooming woodland flowers for season-long interest. Hardy to Zones 4 - 9.

A semi-evergreen, clumping, perennial ground cover. Tall, leafy, wiry, black stems, bearing masses of small (1cm), white, daisy flowers are borne in Autumn. Much loved and grown by Gertrude Jekyll, it is one of the few asters that grow in shade and one of the most attractive shade loving ground-covers. Easily grown in most soils with adequate drainage.

White Wood Aster is an often overlooked blousy addition for the fall shade garden. It tolerates dry soil very nicely and is more popular abroad than it is here in the states. Pairs nicely with Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride' or as a groundcover beneath a Stewartia (calling attention to itself and the bark of the Stewartia). 15-18".

One our favorite Asters from the East Coast. This care-free plant is perfectly suited to the woodland garden or for textural contrast with bolder foliage plants. Black wiry stems spill about creating a frothy mound of white flowers just when you need them. Don't you dare stake this!