Alpine asters are spring blooming asters with large, daisy-like flowers in an array of colors, including pinks, purples, blues, reds, and whites. They are smaller than their summer and fall blooming kin, usually only about 6 or so inches tall and maybe 8 to 12 inches across. Tuck them at the edges of a walkway or path, so that you can look down at their cheery faces as you go by. Also nice along the edges of borders. For a spring bloomer, it has nice summer foliage, with its basal rosette of longish, strappy green leaves.
Grow in well drained soils in full sun to a little shade. They are adaptive to soil types, but it must be well drained; soggy or wet soils will be their end. Snip off spent flowers after blooming, and remove old foliage in the late winter to early spring, before new foliage emerges.