Last year mine were earlier, too.

Last year.

{{gwi:433057}}

This week.

{{gwi:433058}}

Don

I'll check it later. Thanks. :) Great picture!

Wow, that's a big difference. What do you think has caused them to bloom so late this year?

Could it be from extreme heat and/or drought? It has been really hot here and I can't even remember when we last had any measurable rain. I have an aster "Bluebird" from Mone, a beauty. It hasn't bloomed yet, but it's always very late to the party.

Karen

This is the third year I've had mine, and I have yet to see a bloom. Last year it got buds, then they dried up and died. I'm hoping this year I'll get some, but I'm not holding my breath. I've been trying to keep them watered, but sure would be nice if nature were a bit more cooperative.

Karen

August blooming Aster in this area? Very unusual.
None of my asters has ever bloomed before September except 'Moench' that usually begins to bloom in July, sometimes as early as mid June. It blooms all the way to hard frost.

Did you give your Asters a haircut? This will delay blooming by a week or 2. I usually trim all the Asters and many other perennials in June or thereabouts to minimize flopping and/or make them shorter. This works well, but does delay the bloom somewhat.

I forgot to trim the Aster laevis, however the deer came through and nibbled on 2 out of 3. The one they didn't forage on is blooming, but flopping terribly, the other two only just started blooming, but they aren't flopping.

Maybe I can hire the deer to come through and do the pruning for me!

I didn't trim it. It's 5ft tall right now. Last year, it was only 3.5 ft tall :)

The bottom part is even woody.

One of the things I love about this forum is how often I get on and see that someone else is asking a question I've been puzzling about too. I THINK my asters are a litle late, but I also think that maybe I am thinking this (are you following this so far? smile) because the rudbeckia is all shot and the asters usually have a bit of overlap with them (rudbeckias ending, asters beginning). But I beleive our "weird warm" season zapped the rudbeckia too early so perhaps it's not htat the asters are late. Does that make sense?

I also trimmed them back harder than I usually do (they look wonderfully healthy by the way - I am going to try to not be afraid of cutting things back anymore) and, like terrene said, this very well may be the correct answer to "why the delay"....