Aster Flower Meaning: Symbolism, Colors and September's Birth Flower

The aster is the flower that refuses to accept that summer is over. When roses slow down and dahlias start to fade, asters open by the hundreds in gardens, fields and florists' buckets, small star-shaped blooms in purple, lavender, pink and white with a bright golden eye. Their name comes from the Greek word for star, and their meaning has stayed remarkably steady for two thousand years: love, wisdom, faith and patience. They are the birth flower of September, the flower of the twentieth wedding anniversary, and one of the most useful blooms a florist can reach for in autumn. This guide covers what asters symbolize, where the meaning comes from, what each color says, how to gift them and how to keep them fresh. Prefer to shop now? Browse our purple flowers and birthday arrangements, available for same-day delivery across Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire, Ventura County, San Francisco and Honolulu.

What Asters Mean

Four ideas sit at the heart of aster symbolism. Love came first: the Victorians called the aster a talisman of love and slipped it into bouquets when a rose felt too direct. Wisdom follows from the color, since purple, the aster's signature shade, has meant royalty and learning since the ancient world. Faith and patience belong to the flower's timing: it blooms late, after the showier flowers have gone, and it keeps blooming through the first cool nights of fall, a small lesson in waiting well.

Because the bloom is shaped like a star, asters have also long stood for hope and for a wish that things turn out well. That is why they appear on September birthday cards, in autumn wedding bouquets, in get-well arrangements and, in some countries, on graves. Few flowers cover so wide an emotional range while staying so modest in size.

For gift-givers this range is useful. An aster-filled bouquet can say "I am thinking of you" to a friend recovering from surgery, "happy birthday" to a September child, "twenty years and counting" to a spouse, or simply "the season has turned and I wanted you to have something beautiful." The language of flowers gives most blooms one message; the aster gets several.

Myth and History: Tears of a Goddess

The Greeks gave the aster both its name and its first story. In one version the goddess Astraea, saddened that the earth held so few stars, wept, and where her tears fell asters grew. In another, the goddess Virgo scattered stardust across the fields and the flowers sprang up wherever it landed. Either way the aster arrived as a piece of the night sky brought down to the ground, and Greek families burned aster leaves at their doors to drive away evil and serpents.

The Romans placed asters on the altars of the gods. In China the flower came to stand for fidelity and patience, and it appears in poetry as the bloom of the ninth month. In France asters were laid on the graves of soldiers as a wish that the outcome had been different, which is where the flower's quiet note of remembrance comes from. In England the late-blooming varieties earned the name Michaelmas daisy because they flower around Michaelmas, the feast of St Michael on September 29.

The Victorians, who turned flower meanings into a full vocabulary, kept the older associations and added their own. An aster in a posy meant elegance and daintiness, and a bouquet of asters given to a suitor's family signaled patient, faithful love. Almost all of that survives in the way we use asters today.

Aster Color Meanings

Purple asters are the classic and the most common. They mean wisdom, royalty and dignity, which makes them the natural choice for a September birthday, a graduation or a thank-you to a mentor. Lavender softens the message toward grace and calm.

White asters stand for purity, innocence and new beginnings. They are the aster for weddings, christenings and any fresh start, and they light up a mixed autumn bouquet the way white hydrangea lights up a summer one.

Pink asters speak of sensitivity, tenderness and gentle love. They suit a friend, a daughter or a mother better than a red rose ever could. Red asters, rarer in florists' shops, mean undying devotion; in a twentieth-anniversary bouquet they are exactly right. Blue asters, closer to violet in most varieties, carry faith, trust and serenity, and pair beautifully with white roses and blue hydrangea.

In our studios the aster palette usually lives inside a larger purple-and-blue design rather than as a solo bunch. Monica sets purple roses against magenta carnations and eucalyptus; Lia builds a round box of blue hydrangea, lavender scabiosa and cream roses; Anastasia mixes purple and pink roses with carnations for a brighter September birthday. When asters are in season, they are the stars scattered through all three.

September's Birth Flower

The aster is the primary birth flower for September, sharing the month with the morning glory. The pairing is a neat one: the aster stands for love, wisdom and patience, the morning glory for affection and the beauty of a single day, and both bloom as summer gives way to fall. Together they describe September people as loyal, thoughtful and quietly optimistic, which most September people are happy to hear.

For a September birthday the easiest interpretation is color. Purple and lavender arrangements carry the aster's meaning even when the aster itself is not the headline flower, and in early September the studios are full of purple roses, scabiosa and hydrangea that do the job beautifully. Add a few aster stems when they are available and the bouquet becomes a literal birth-flower gift. Our birth flowers by month guide lists all twelve months if you are shopping ahead.

The aster is also the traditional flower of the twentieth wedding anniversary. Twenty years is long enough to have learned patience and short enough to still feel like the middle of the story, which is roughly what the aster has meant since Greece. If the anniversary falls in September, so much the better.

Types of Asters You Will Actually Meet

Botanists have shuffled the aster genus more than once, so a few of the flowers we call asters now carry other Latin names. For gift-givers three groups matter. China asters (Callistephus chinensis) are the florists' aster: large, ruffled, almost chrysanthemum-like heads in purple, pink, white and crimson, grown as an annual and sold as a cut flower from midsummer to fall. New England and New York asters (now Symphyotrichum) are the tall, bushy garden natives with hundreds of small purple stars; they are the classic Michaelmas daisies and the flowers bees swarm in October. Alpine and heath asters are the low, wiry types with tiny white or lavender blooms that florists use as airy filler.

Two look-alikes cause confusion. Daisies are close cousins with broader petals and a spring season. Chrysanthemums, the other great autumn flower, share the family and the season but have denser, rounder heads and a different set of meanings built around loyalty and long life. A good autumn bouquet often uses all three.

When to Gift Asters

September birthdays are the obvious occasion, and the aster's status as the month's birth flower gives the gift a story to tell on the card. Twentieth anniversaries are the second, for the reason above. Get-well arrangements are the third: the aster's meaning of patience and its long vase life make it one of the most practical flowers to send to someone recovering at home.

The aster also fits back-to-school and teacher gifts, arriving exactly when the school year begins, and autumn hostess gifts, where its purples and whites sit well beside pumpkins and candles without tipping into Halloween orange. Because of the French tradition, an aster-filled arrangement is also appropriate for remembrance: a September anniversary of a loss, or flowers for a grave, where it says gently that someone is still thought of.

Grandparents Day falls on Sunday, September 13 this year, and purple asters are a fine grandmother's flower: calm, dignified and long-lasting. Our Grandparents Day guide has more ideas for both grandma and grandpa.

Arranging and Caring for Asters

Asters are a designer's friend. Their small heads and branching stems fill the gaps between larger flowers, their colors bridge the pinks of summer and the burgundies of fall, and they hold up for a week or two once the roses around them have faded. In a mixed bouquet they act as texture: a scatter of small stars that makes the whole design look fuller and more natural.

Pair purple asters with white roses and eucalyptus for a calm, elegant arrangement; with dahlias and celosia for a full autumn bouquet; with blue hydrangea and lavender scabiosa for a soft, watercolor palette like Lia; or with sunflowers and yellow roses for a cheerful September birthday. White asters go with almost anything and make a wedding bouquet look hand-gathered.

Care is simple. Cut the stems on an angle, strip any leaves that would sit below the waterline, and put the flowers in cool water within an hour of receiving them. Change the water every two days and keep the vase away from direct sun, heaters and ripening fruit. Expect seven to fourteen days of bloom. If a stem droops early, recut it and give it a deep drink overnight; asters revive better than most. For more, see our guide to keeping flowers fresh. And if the recipient has a cat, relax: true asters are on the ASPCA's non-toxic list, though the rest of the bouquet should be checked against our pet-safe flowers guide.

My Thoughts — a Florist's Perspective on Asters

Asters are the flower I reach for when a September bouquet needs to look like September rather than like leftover summer. Roses are available all year and hydrangea can be flown in from anywhere, but a handful of asters, with their little golden eyes, tells you the season without a single pumpkin in sight. They are also forgiving. A bouquet that has been handled roughly by a hot afternoon will drop a rose petal or two, but the asters will still be standing up straight the next morning.

I also love what they do for color. Purple is a hard shade to get right in a bouquet, because too much of it goes dark and heavy. Asters give you purple in small doses, scattered rather than massed, and they carry a bit of yellow in the center that lifts everything around them. When a customer asks for "something purple but not gloomy," asters are usually the answer.

My advice for gifting is to name the meaning on the card. Most people do not know that the aster is September's birth flower or the twentieth-anniversary flower, and telling them turns a pretty bouquet into a personal one. "Asters for a September star" is a line that has made more than one grandmother cry.

FAQ

What Does the Aster Flower Symbolize?

Asters symbolize love, wisdom, faith and patience. In Victorian flower language they were a talisman of love and a symbol of daintiness; in ancient Greece they were sacred to the gods and thought to ward off evil. Their star-shaped blooms also carry a sense of hope and remembrance.

Is the Aster the September Birth Flower?

Yes. The aster is the primary birth flower for September, shared with the morning glory. It suits September birthdays because it blooms exactly when most other summer flowers fade, from late August through October.

What Do Purple Asters Mean?

Purple is the aster's signature color and stands for wisdom, royalty and dignity. Because purple asters are also the most common variety, they are the classic choice for a September birthday or a thoughtful thank-you.

What Anniversary Is the Aster Flower For?

The aster is the traditional flower of the twentieth wedding anniversary, a fitting emblem of patience and enduring love after two decades together.

Are Asters and Daisies the Same Flower?

They are cousins, not twins. Both belong to the Asteraceae family and share the daisy shape of petals around a central disc, but asters have narrower, more numerous petals and bloom in late summer and fall, while common daisies peak in spring and early summer.

How Long Do Cut Asters Last?

Seven to fourteen days with basic care: trim the stems, strip leaves below the waterline, keep them out of direct sun and change the water every two days. Asters are one of the longest-lasting fall filler flowers.

Are Asters Safe for Cats and Dogs?

The ASPCA lists true asters as non-toxic to cats and dogs, which makes them one of the safer fall flowers for pet households. Always check the other stems in a mixed bouquet, since lilies and some bulbs are dangerous.

Conclusion

The aster is a small flower with a large vocabulary: love, wisdom, faith and patience, a star fallen from the sky in Greek myth, a talisman of love in Victorian England, the birth flower of September and the bloom of the twentieth anniversary. Purple asters mean wisdom, white purity, pink tenderness, red devotion and blue faith, and all of them last up to two weeks in a vase, which makes them as practical as they are meaningful.

If someone you love was born in September, is celebrating twenty years of marriage, or simply needs a reminder that the best flowers of the year arrive last, a purple arrangement scattered with asters says it well. Pink Clover hand-arranges and delivers the same day across Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire, Ventura County, San Francisco and Honolulu; write the meaning on the card and let the stars do the rest.

Sources and further reading: Wikipedia: Aster (genus) · Wikipedia: Birth flower · ASPCA: toxic and non-toxic plants

Shop September Flowers Near You

Purple, lavender and blue are the colors of September, and they run through our purple flower collection: Monica for a bold birthday, Anastasia for a brighter one, Lia and Dora for the soft blue-and-lavender palette. Ask for asters in the notes when they are in season, add a card that names the meaning, and we will send you a photo of the finished arrangement before it leaves the studio.