dark pink

Potsize - 1L

A striking autumn flowering Aster with branching heads producing a mass of very bright cerise scarlet daisies warm enough to cheer the dullest day in fact when in full bloom the flower colour is strident enough to deliver a firm slap around the chops. It is just the brightest of pinks but it goes so well with the warm tones of Autumn. I'm not sure who Alma Potschke was, but she was clearly well worth remembering ( 'Andenken an' means 'in memory of' similar to the French version 'Souvenir de' ) . Very easy to grow. Height 1.3m (4ft). Like all the novae-angliaes it produces a series of unbranched stems topped with a branching terminal head of flowers. I am very grateful to Heather Farquharson whose research has recently answered my query above. I couldn't better her writing so I hope she doesn't mind me quoting it uncut.  'There is a German nursery near Stuttgart, www.poetschke.de, and the owner who developed the plant called it after his mother.  I only hope he did not call it after her because of memories of her delivering firm slaps around the chops and the resulting rosy cheeks.   Let's hope he had happier memories of her.' Its not uncommon for customer asking for this plant to decide that 5 consonants in a row is just too much and suffer verbal apoplexy somewhere soon after the 'Andenken'. Sometimes, with a glorious British disregard for correctness we settle for 'Posh' or maybe something like 'Potsky'. Having consulted with a German friend I am told the good lady's name should be pronounced more like 'Purr - sh - k' with a soft final 'k'. Discount of 25p per plant for quantities of 3 or over

Links

Aster Varieties Compared

Botanical Style Photographs