Beautiful and native to North America, most plants in the aster family are considered wildflowers and offer the perfect burst of color in your yard when you want natural blooms you can find in the wild. Asters are also a perennial flower perfect for attracting pollinators with late summer blooms. There are numerous native plants in the aster family in North America, and all of the varieties look a little different, which can make it difficult to recognize members of the family. Since some asters are invasive, especially non-native ones, it’s a good idea to know what’s growing in your yard in case you need to remove the plants. Thankfully, asters aren’t generally dangerous to you or your pets, and many are actually used as food or medicine. 

Thankfully, there is one easy way to decide whether a plant is likely in the aster family or not, and that is the flower shape. Most asters have a similar structure with a center floret and individual petals, or rays, stemming out from it. Though the number, size, and shape of the petals can vary, they are generally longer than they are wide. With over 33,900 species in the aster family worldwide, differentiating between them often comes down to tiny details. While it might not help you identify the exact species you’re looking at, knowing the key features of asters will help you determine if the plant growing in your garden belongs to the group. Then, you can narrow it down further by researching which asters grow where you live and when they bloom.

To better understand what asters look like, think about daisies or sunflowers. Both are in the aster family, along with a few other recognizable blooms, including arnicas, dandelions, marigolds, calendulas, yarrow, zinnias, and cosmos, several of which are colorful flowers that will bring bees into your yard. Even some foods you grow, like lettuce, endives, and artichokes are part of the family. Though they are very different plants, they all have similar flower shapes with a relatively large disk in the center and long, skinny petals surrounding the disc. So if you see a flower that looks vaguely like one of these flowers, it’s probably an aster. 

Flowers like the Bonita Top Blue (Callistephus chinensis) are sometimes a little harder to identify. They have a similar structure to the daisy, but the center is larger, making the petals seem smaller in comparison. They’re often described as button flowers because of their shape. However, if you think in a slightly abstract way, you can see that it’s still roughly the same shape. Once you determine if the plants in your yard are part of the aster family, learning how to grow and take care of asters makes it easier to help them thrive. 

If you’re unsure whether or not the plant you’re looking at is an aster, you can also see where they are growing. With it being such a large family, asters grow in almost any environment. However, they are most common in open, drier environments that offer full or partial sun.