To most of us, fall color means the brilliant oranges and reds of the turning maple leaves. While other trees play their part, it’s the blazing maples that draw the crowds. This year the peak season may be shortened and dulled by summer’s drought, but the show will surely still be one of Maine’s most spectacular moments.

It’s easy to get so caught up in the foliage above our heads that we overlook those other contributors to spectacular fall color — the late-flowering herbaceous perennials. The standard-bearer for these is the common New England aster, which fills roadside ditches and banks with amazing purples and pinks — wonderful contrasts to the foliage colors on the opposite side of the color wheel.

New World asters were reclassified in the 1990s under a new genus (Symphyotrichum, f

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