Garden Highlights

Don't miss our Garden Highlights, updated weekly on Thursday, featuring plants for their outstanding ornamental characteristics. Discover everything from flowers to fruit, buds, bark and more. Use the Garden Highlights layer on our digital map to find these plants at the Arboretum. You can also search for specific plants using the Plant Finder

Featured: September 21 - 27

Common Name: New England Aster
Scientific Name: Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae or New England aster, is a native plant commonly found growing in regions from the eastern to central United States. With more ray flowers — commonly known as petals — than many typical asters, the New England aster is a showy native plant that can grow to heights of up to 6 feet. Not only are the blooms bountiful and beautiful, this fall-blooming flower is an important late-season food source for pollinators, as it can bloom from August to late October in Minnesota.

At the Arboretum, you can find New England aster in many of the natural areas, as well as the specialty gardens! With hues ranging from shades of pink, purple, blue and white, this aster can also be found in the nursery trade under many different cultivars. Use our Plant Finder to discover the locations of different cultivars of New England aster on display throughout the Arboretum.

Garden Highlights

Featured: September 21 - 27

Buckeye

Rough Goldenrod

Dahlia

Garden Mum

Shrub Rose

Cucumber Magnolia

Hyacinth Bean

Crabapple

Mountain Ash

Switchgrass

Harebell

Black Snakeroot

Prickly Aster

Weyrich Daisy

Sweet Coneflower

Hungarian Daisy

Red Maple

Showy Goldenrod

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum serves as a research center and extension of the University of Minnesota's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS).

Garden Highlights

Featured: September 21 - 27

Buckeye

Rough Goldenrod

Dahlia

Garden Mum

Shrub Rose

Cucumber Magnolia

Hyacinth Bean

Crabapple

Mountain Ash

Switchgrass

Harebell

Black Snakeroot

Prickly Aster

Weyrich Daisy

Sweet Coneflower

Hungarian Daisy

Red Maple

Showy Goldenrod

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