PLANTS WORTH GROWING 95 
might feel disposed also to pass them by, for in all 
probability he recalls Michaelmas Daisies in some 
old-fashioned garden which were somewhat rough, 
gaunt-looking plants carrying in Autumn a show of 
small starry flowers of an insipid mauve or lavender 
shade, but presenting an unkempt and unruly appear- 
ance through the greater part of the year, scarcely 
counterbalanced or compensated by the ultimate 
display of bloom. Such, indeed, were the old- 
fashioned types and varieties, but thanks to the 
foresight and the skill of some of our hardy plant 
specialists about the end of last century, the whole 
family has been classified, and a wonderful range 
of new varieties evolved which are so vastly superior 
to the old race that no garden which claims to 
be a Herbaceous garden can ignore the finest 
of the Aster family. Of the sections the more 
important are Amellus, which are dwarf and compact, 
with branching heads of large flowers. Ericoides, 
with slender branching stems clothed with minute 
pointed leaves and studded with tiny white stars. 
The many varieties of this section provide us with 
some of our most serviceable decorative material 
during the waning Autumn. In the Novi Belgii 
section we find many tall, branching and extremely 
free-flowering varieties, and for the most part blues 
and lavenders of clear and pleasing shades charac- 
terize their colours. Several double and semi-double 
varieties are now in cultivation, and some are avail- 
able which are of decided pink and rose tints. The 
