_'24 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[8 April, 1908. 



GARDEN NOTES. 



/. Cronin, Principal, School of Horticulture, Burnley. 



The Aster. 



Asters, or Michaelmas daisies as they are commonly teimed, are peren- 

 nial herbaceous plants blooming during the late summer and autumn 

 months. The genus is a large one, over a hundred species being known. 

 .\lost of the species are of little account as decorative plants for the garden, 

 while others, and varieties raised from them, are worthy of a place in 

 most gardens. The principal objection to many asters was their long and 

 straggling habit of growth, but most of the kinds now generally grown 

 are dwarf and compact. The range of colour is not wide; the majority 

 of the species and their varieties produce flowers of shades of blue, 

 lavender, and purple, a few bearing white flowers. The plants are hardy 

 and very floriferous, and are specially suitable for mixed groups or borders 

 where they supply a quantity of flowers of unusual and pleasing shades 

 of colours at a time of comparative scarcity. The flowers are valuable 

 for decoration, lasting well when cut from the plants. 



ASTER RLOOMS. 



The genus aster at one time included many shrubs, herbaceous peren- 

 nials, and annuals, now referred to other genera, including Callistefhus 

 commonly known as the China aster. For the purpose of these notes the 

 China asier may be referred to, as it is unlikely that it will be known 

 under any other name than the present common one. A number of 

 varieties of the China a.ster have been raised by florists, many of them 

 Ix-ing of exceptional merit. Thev are favorites with numerous gardeners, 



