White Wood Aster

Year-round

White wood aster wants shade to part shade, soil that stays lightly moist but drains well, and room to spread into a low groundcover clump about one to two and a half feet tall.

• Plant it in shade to part shade. It also tolerates deep shade under trees, more than most garden plants can handle.
• Keep the soil average to consistently moist and well drained. Once it is established it can handle short dry spells.
• Add two to three inches of mulch and keep it topped up. That holds moisture and keeps roots cooler through Tallahassee's long hot summers.
• It spreads slowly by underground stems into a groundcover clump one to two and a half feet tall and about as wide. Give it room or plan to divide it every few years.
• This aster's documented native range is the Appalachian mountains, the Piedmont, and the Northeast. It is not listed as native to north Florida, so in the Tallahassee area it is best thought of as a shade garden plant rather than a native planting.

Fall

Fall is bloom season and the easiest stretch of the year for this plant in the Tallahassee area, with small white flowers opening as the heat breaks.

• Small white daisy-like flowers open from late summer into fall and can keep blooming into November here.
• Deadheading is optional. Leaving the spent flowers lets seed form, which birds will eat over fall and winter.
• Cooler, less humid fall weather is easier on this plant than summer. Cut back on watering as temperatures drop.
• The average first frost in the Tallahassee area lands in mid November, so expect foliage to start fading and dying back around then.

The white fall flowers read as tidy and intentional in a front shade bed, which supports an HOA-friendly look during bloom season.

Winter

Winter is mostly a resting period here. Foliage dies back after frost and the plant needs little care until spring.

• Once the foliage turns brown after frost, cut the dead stems back to a few inches from the ground.
• Keep mulch in place over winter. It buffers the crown during Tallahassee's occasional hard freezes, which typically drop into the low twenties Fahrenheit.
• The plant is dormant now and needs little to no extra water unless the winter turns unusually dry.
• With the bed cleared out, winter is a good time to map where you want to move divisions once spring growth starts.

Cutting back the dead stems keeps a front-facing shade bed looking tended through winter instead of leggy, which is part of an HOA-friendly look.

Spring

Spring is when new leafy growth returns, and it is the best time to divide the clump or refresh mulch before summer heat sets in.

• New leaves come up from the base a few weeks after the last frost, which averages around mid March in the Tallahassee area.
• Refresh the mulch layer now so it is in place before summer heat and humidity arrive.
• If the clump has spread past where you want it, divide it in early spring while the new shoots are still short.
• Spring rain is usually enough on its own. Water only if the soil goes dry for several days in a row.

Summer

Summer is the hardest season here since Tallahassee's heat and humidity sit right at the edge of what this plant normally handles, so shade and steady moisture matter most.

• Give it the shadiest, coolest spot you have. Tallahassee summers push past the top of this aster's usual hardiness range, so full shade helps it cope with the heat.
• Watch the leaves for a white powdery coating. This aster can develop powdery mildew in humid weather, and giving plants room for air to move around them helps prevent it.
• Summer thunderstorms usually keep the soil moist enough. During a dry stretch of a week or more, water at the base of the plant instead of overhead so the leaves dry faster.
• Hold off on fertilizer during peak summer heat. It is not needed for an established plant and can encourage weak growth at the worst time.