Aster Week

Aster is the dominant newcomer this week, with Aster laevis now fully in flower and buds of Aster novae-angliae just visible. Shrubs that wait to flower until September or October are fairly rare things in Zone 8. Syringa microphylla 'Superba', an autumn lilac, has been in flower for a few weeks now and is indeed pretty. We are still waiting for Heptacodium miconioides to bloom. The Lorenz von Ehren nursery catalogue has a few more suggestions including Lespedeza thunbergii purpurrosa and Osmanthus heterophyllus, and reminds us that Elaeagnus ebbingei ought to be showing its modest white flowers about now. So I go out to look, and yes, they are there, though so subtle that only the bees would really notice. Franklinia alatamaha is another standard late flowerer elsewhere, but enormously expensive in Germany: about 100 euros for a specimen. The Eggert nursery proposes varieties of Buddleja and Ceanothus, but of course these have been in flower since the summer. The Horsholm botanic gardens list (see the left column) proposes Leycesteria formosa, Caryopteris incana and Hamamelis virginiana. Otherwise, Viburnum tinus and Viburnum farreri are uncertain flowerers, rather like Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis', which begin to leak flowers about now and might jump the gun and go into complete flower in a mild November or December, but could also keep us in suspense till March. The main glories at this time of year come from berries, like that of Callicarpa bodinieri, often dubbed the beautyberry. We have seen this looking straggly and neglected, and even then it is eyecatching. On a bush that is pruned and well shaped, the purple berries in week 2008/39 are already something very beautiful indeed.