Symphyotrychum (Western OK)

You never know from where the next great plant will come. A few years ago I took a detour through a small town near the border of western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle and saw this Aster in a lady’s garden. She didn’t know its name but remembered receiving it from another lady in town years earlier. I took a start and have enjoyed its bluish-purple blooms each fall since. With large flower heads and clean smooth foliage, it is most likely a selection or cultivar of Aster leavis. That species is native to eastern Oklahoma and states further east although research shows there are a few disjunct populations way out in Northwester Nebraska. We don’t know where it came from but we do know this heirloom plant is a winner.