Starwort

Asters are named after the Latin word for star, but the name aster also goes back to the Golden Age of Greek mythology.  Astraea was the goddess of innocence who lived on earth before evil and hardship arrived. When people became horrible and sinful, she fled earth and turned into the constellation Virgo.

Zeus was so angry he created a flood that covered the entire earth, except for the peak of Mt. Parnassus.  (This is sounding familiar.) As the last few people wandered around in the mud, Astraea created starlight to guide them and her falling tears changed into star-shaped flowers, or starworts.

Astraea

There are at least 250 species of aster worldwide.  Some are just seven foot high weeds, but nursery varieties like the China Aster are fancy and picky.  I've tried planting these over the years because they make beautiful cut flowers, but they never last more than one summer.

China aster

We've have a clump common blue asters growing under the plum tree for as long as I can remember.  The plant is tough and scrubby looking all summer (ugly, really) but it needs hardly any water.  Then the flowers are pretty for a week in September-- one of the last things to bloom in profusion.