White Wood Aster

by Matt Whitaker

Scientific Description: White Wood Aster – Eurybia (Aster) divaricata – is an herbaceous perennial found in the eastern United States. It is in the Aster (Asteraceae) family and is one of the few members of this family that grows in shade/partial shade. It does well in Hardiness Zones 3 through 9. Chattanooga, being in Hardiness Zone 7, is a perfect fit for this species.

The White Wood Aster grows to a height of 24 to 30 inches tall and 18 to 30 inches in diameter. It has heart-shaped or oval leaves and blooms in the late summer and early autumn. The star-shaped flowers are composed of white ray flowers surrounding the central yellow disk flowers.

This species tolerates a variety of soil types, moisture levels, and pHs. It requires little maintenance and has few disease or insect problems. 

Habitat Value: White wood aster is especially attractive to various pollinators, especially many species of bees and butterfly, especially at a time when relatively little else is available. It is also a host plant for the Pearl Crescent butterfly. The small seeds of the white wood aster are sought by many species of birds.

By Matt Whitaker

Landscape Value: By Matt Whitaker of WMWA Landscape Architects 

White wood aster was one of my first ‘favorite’ perennial/ground cover plants when I began my landscape architecture career. Twenty years and many plantings later, it has not slipped any in its ranking. This plant, with its lush green summer foliage and dark stems, is hard to beat in the summer. But then, in the late summer, one tiny white bloom will appear, the next day two more, and the next four more, until by mid-fall it is covered with white blooms that last for more than a month. Like so many other asters, it blooms when few other things are blooming and therefore is invaluable as pollinator forage and for people who enjoy gardens/blooms. Remember this lesson for asters, and never plant a garden without some, preferably many, species. 

As Charlie notes, this aster is in a small group of asters that not only tolerates shade but thrives in shade and does not do well with much sun. Mix it with Christmas fern and/or marginal fern and Heuchera, and you will have beautiful woodland garden, even if you add nothing more. All these species are also very tolerate of dry soils when well shaded, since, in their natural habit, the trees of the woodland are getting most of the water. 

While it can get to 30” tall, white wood aster is most often prostrate, so the stems are most often stretched out across the ground instead of reaching up to that height. 

This summer I planted an ellipse shaped mass of 40+ plugs of white wood aster across a walk in my backyard. The plants have more than doubled in size already, and many have blooms in their first year. Planted in June, I probably watered them 4 or 5 times before they could last a week or more without attention. By this time next year, they should all be full grown and spectacular and, short of a severe drought, won’t need me to water them again.