Hi all,
While I'm an experienced vegetable grower, I'm relatively new to flowers. My mom had tons that were always beautiful, and I helped with the beds and learned a decent amount by just being around flower gardening, but I've never been responsible for anything planted outdoors until recently...I bought my house about 3.5 years ago and the yard was a mess, so I'm just now getting the landscaping to a really finished point.
Anyway, so I planted some aster ("Stokesia Bluestone" to be specific..it's the "signature" variety from the nursery I buy most plants from) that is supposed to be fall blooming (late summer to late fall). The first plant went in last fall (the spring one died in shipment because of last spring's shipping delays), the second last spring. Both appear to be setting buds now. Is this normal? Will they set buds in spring that don't open for months? Or is climate weirding getting the best of them (we had a warm March and now a cool April)? I wouldn't be mad if they bloomed at the "wrong" time, I suppose, I just want to know what to expect. IMO, they seem really healthy otherwise (both were 6" tall or less when planted, now pushing knee-high, so they seem to be flourishing!).
