PlantFiles: False Aster, Japanese Aster, Oriental Boltonia, Ghengis Khan Aster
Kalimeris pinnatifida

Have had this in my garden for the past 10 years after buying it labeled as "Feverfew." I never knew what it really was till last year. It has been great for me. Makes neat, tidy plants that bloom and bloom ALL SUMMER! Flowers are a crisp white with a bit of yellow in the center...great blenders. Foliage has a crisp herbal scent if you handle it. Unlike the other comment, I get tons of self-sown seedlings, but they are not thugs like other plants I've had (perennial bachelor button, etc.) You can easily pull them out, or repot and give to other gardeners. Plus, they are easily transplanted...I just moved a full sized plant in bloom, in 90 degree heat, and with a lot of watering it has come through just fine. Other times they will wilt but leaf back out if you cut them back. Bugs don't bother them, they don't require fertilizer or other care, bloom all summer, and look great with everything else or in bouquets..what more could you want?

This is an excellent "filler" plant giving the garden height. It reaches 4 foot here and has beautiful double white blooms, appears like "mini" mums. Does not developed mildew like most asters here.

Started blooming in May in middle Georgia and has bloomed since. I love it because foliage has stayed nice and the flowers are so daintly and pretty - we have had record rains w/a surplus of 15 inches and it still is doing good in my sandy but compost and cow manure enriched soil. I saw an article on the Japanese Aster a year or so ago in Better Homes and Gardens magazine and really wanted the plant but could not find. Last year I bought this Genghis Khan Aster not realizing it was the Japanese Aster I had been searching for at nurseries. It is as good or better than the magazine said it would be.

Once this plant starts blooming in July, it just won't quit! Needs no deadheading since the dead flowers shrivel up to small nubbins and I've never found self-sown seedlings. Fills up its space with wonderful fluffy flowers. A great filler plant for the perennial bed. Can dig up side shoots in the spring and they'll root themselves wherever you put them.

Closely resembling the Boltonia Aster, K. pinnatifida is prized for its steady stream of hundreds of 1" white blooms from mid-summer until late in the fall. Many varieties are doubles, resembling chrysanthemum.