Symphyotrichum novae-angliae – New England aster coloring page

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About New England Aster

New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) is a bold native perennial wildflower with vivid purple, lavender, rose-purple, or magenta daisy-like blooms. Each flower head has many narrow ray flowers around a bright yellow center, and the centers often deepen to orange or reddish tones as they age. It usually blooms in late summer and fall, bringing a final burst of color when many other meadow plants are winding down.

The plant has upright, hairy stems and lance-shaped leaves that often clasp the stem. It can grow several feet tall, making it a strong vertical plant for meadows, pollinator gardens, rain gardens, and the back of native borders. When in full bloom, it can look like a purple fireworks display that decided to stay rooted.

New England aster is one of the great late-season native flowers. It provides color for people, nectar and pollen for insects, and seeds for birds later in the year. In a coloring page, it offers tall stems, many-petaled flower heads, yellow centers, leafy texture, and lots of room for bees, butterflies, skippers, moths, and goldfinches.

Where New England Aster Grows

New England aster is native to much of eastern and central North America. It commonly grows in moist meadows, prairies, open fields, streambanks, roadsides, wet thickets, woodland edges, ditches, and sunny naturalized areas. It is especially at home in open habitats where the soil stays medium to moist.

This plant grows best in full sun, though it can tolerate some light shade. It prefers moist, rich soil but can also handle average garden soil, clay soil, and rain garden conditions. In very dry sites, it may become shorter or less lush, while in rich moist soil it can grow tall and may benefit from neighboring plants for support.

In gardens, New England aster pairs beautifully with goldenrods, Joe Pye weed, ironweed, switchgrass, little bluestem, mountain mint, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, swamp milkweed, and other late-season native plants. Because the lower leaves can become less attractive by flowering time, it works well behind shorter plants that hide its ankles.

Pollinators It Supports

New England aster is a major late-season nectar and pollen plant for bees, butterflies, skippers, flies, wasps, beetles, and moths. Its timing is especially important because it blooms when monarchs are migrating, bumble bee colonies are producing new queens, and many insects are gathering the last resources of the growing season.

Specific bee visitors can include the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), brown-belted bumble bee (Bombus griseocollis), golden northern bumble bee (Bombus fervidus), aster miner bee (Andrena asteris), sweat bees such as Lasioglossum species, and leafcutter bees such as Megachile species. Flower flies such as Toxomerus marginatus, bee flies, small wasps, and beetles may also visit the yellow disk flowers.

Butterflies and skippers are frequent visitors too. Good examples to include in a coloring page are the monarch (Danaus plexippus), painted lady (Vanessa cardui), pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos), clouded sulphur (Colias philodice), silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus), and Peck’s skipper (Polites peckius). New England aster is also used as a host plant by crescent butterflies, including the pearl crescent, whose caterpillars feed on asters.

After flowering, the seed heads can feed small birds, including American goldfinches and other seed-eating songbirds. For a coloring page, New England aster pairs beautifully with monarchs, bumble bees, aster miner bees, pearl crescents, hover flies, skippers, or a goldfinch perched on dried seed heads.

Coloring Tips

Color the rays purple, violet, lavender, magenta, rose-purple, or deep bluish-purple. The centers can be bright yellow when fresh, then orange, rusty red, or reddish-brown as they age. Coloring some centers yellow and others reddish makes the plant look more natural and alive.

The leaves are medium to deep green, with slightly hairy stems that can be green, reddish-green, or purple-tinged. Use darker green along the leaf veins and lighter green along the edges. The flower buds can be green with purple tips before they open.

For the background, place New England aster in a sunny meadow, rain garden, streambank, roadside wildflower patch, or autumn pollinator garden. Add goldenrods, native grasses, seed heads, and warm late-season light. To show wildlife value, include a monarch butterfly, common eastern bumble bee, aster miner bee, pearl crescent, hover fly, or American goldfinch among the flowers.