Daisy vs. aster vs. chrysanthemum — what’s the difference?

As you’re getting into native plants, you may wonder what the difference is between plants you’re familiar with. Daisies, asters, and chrysanthemums are widespread flowering plants that we often see at plant nurseries, yards, and even grocery stores—especially in the fall.

Each plant is a different plant group, and only one has a native option in North America: asters. Scroll on to learn more about their differences, where these plants originated, and how to find butterfly-friendly species for your garden.

Native asters provide crucial late-season food for pollinators

Dig Deeper

Explore more about asters, daisies, and mums

Table of Contents

A visit to a local nursery gives options from all over the globe. Planting species from elsewhere has been a major American trend since before we were America (we partly blame Marie Antoinette). Daisies, asters, and chrysanthemums are three large groups of plants from around the world found together in our gardens. Let’s dig into these three groups and share their differences and commonalities.

Let’s start with what they have in common.

(I promise this little bit of science is fascinating.)

All three plants are in the Asteraceae family

These three plants share a family tree. As you probably remember from high school, plants are organized into groups based on their relationships to other plants (this science is called taxonomy). Carl Linnaeus invented the taxonomy system for plants in 1735, and the basics of this system are still used today.

Plant taxonomy is organized into groupings that go from broad to specific. The groupings—in order from largest to smallest—are: kingdom, phylum or division, class, order, family, genus, and species.

Daises, asters, and chrysanthemums are all in the same family: Asteraceae.

Asteraceae is a BIG family

Asteraceae includes 20,000+ species of plants, making it one of the largest plant families. Plants in this family include coneflowersblack-eyed Susans, sunflowers, coreopsis, artichokes, lettuce, asters, daisies, and chrysanthemums. (Asteraceae is sometimes called “the sunflower family.“)

Native flowers in the Asteraceae family

One look at some well-known native plants shows this family’s similarities.

As you look at these pictures, you can see what makes plants in Asteraceae similar. The circle-surrounded-by-petals shape is the way we learn to draw flowers in kindergarten. It is one of the most basic ways we describe and understand the plant world.

While many flowers share this shape, flowers in Asteraceae have an extraordinary similarity.

There is a secret hidden in some Asteraceae flowers

Hidden within the family Asteraceae is a tiny marvel: florets.

Get up close to Asteraceae to see its center florets

Florets can make one flower actually hundreds of flowers

Most Asteraceae flowers have a center of many tiny flowers (called florets) surrounded by petals that radiate out. The individual florets are so tiny and tightly compacted they “superficially resemble individual flowers.” (Source: Britannica)

All the yellow in the center of the New York Aster shown here are tiny individual floret flowers, tightly clumped together to appear as a single flower. Amazing, right?

Daisies, chrysanthemums, and asters all have centers made up of florets. It’s fascinating to know that a single favorite, beloved, iconic flower is actually dozens or even hundreds of tiny flowers. If you’re like me, you’ll need to go out into the garden and get up close with a magnifying glass to see for yourself. 

One last fact that helps explain the invasiveness of non-native daisies:

Each floret can produce a seed

When pollinated, each floret produces a seed. This means an individual flower in the Asteraceae family can produce dozens—sometimes hundreds—of seeds. 

A single Oxeye daisy flower (native to Europe and Asia) can have 100-200 florets. Therefore, a single daisy flower head can potentially produce 100 to 200 seeds. This is one reason why Oxeye daisies are considered invasive in some states.

More on this later.

Now that we know a little about what makes asters, mums, and daisies similar, let’s explore what makes them different.

Daisies vs. Chrysanthemums vs. Asters

At-a-glance differences

Classic daises are not native to North America, and some are invasive

Daisies

  • The classic yellow-center-white-petal daisies (Shasta and Ox-eye) are native to Europe and Asia
  • Bloom in summer
  • Perennials (come back year after year)
  • Leucanthemum genus (mostly)
  • Can be invasive in some US states
Chrysanthemums (or mums) are not native to North America

Chrysanthemums

  • Chrysanthemums (often called ‘Mums’) are native to Asia and Europe
  • Bloom in fall
  • Many species cannot survive harsh winters
  • Chrysanthemum genus

Asters

There are a few other notes on daisies if you’re interested:

Shasta daisies are actually hybrids of a few European and Asian daisies. A hybrid is a plant whose DNA comes from combining multiple plants.

Meet Shasta Daisy’s dad: Luther Burbank

Luther Burbank, a plant breeder, created over 800 plants through hybridization in his lifetime and created Shasta daisies in 1901. According to the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, “It took him 17 years, and he crossed the oxeye daisy with the English field daisy, the Portuguese field daisy, and the Japanese field daisy to create the Shasta daisy.”

Even though millions of Shasta daises grow in North American gardens, none of the daisy DNA used to make them is native to North America.

Many states consider Ox-eye daisies invasive. Invasive plants can grow so rapidly and explode their populations so quickly that they crowd out native plant life.

The National Park Service explains the danger of Ox-eye daises (bolding is our own): “Ox-eye daisy is difficult to control or eradicate, since a new plant can regenerate from rhizome fragments. Each flower head can produce up to 200 seeds that spread by wind or animals and remain viable in the soil for several years.”

Yikes. Let’s stay away from this invasive and non-native flower.

Otherwise, it’s time to start our love letter for native asters.

Only asters have options native to North America

All these three flowers are widely found in North American gardens, but only asters have species that have grown here for thousands of years—making them a native plant.

Native plants are magical for our gardens for lots of reasons, including:

  • Resilience. Native plants have the DNA to thrive in our climate, soil, and weather.
  • Wildlife support. Native plants are the preferred home and food of our iconic wildlife. Speaking of wildlife…
A Pearl Crescentspot chows down on native asters

Native asters are the host plants for many butterflies

New England and New York Asters are host plants to Pearly Crescentspot, Crescentspot, and Silvery Crescentspot butterflies. Without native asters, these butterflies would not exist. If you’re looking for other host plants for your garden, read our quick host plant/butterfly round-up.

What is a host plant?

A host plant is a specific plant that a bug, butterfly, or caterpillar eats, lives on, or lays its eggs on.

If you’re looking for fall flowers, plant native asters

It’s a true mystery why non-native ‘mums’ have overtaken fall landscaping when we have gorgeous native aster options that are built for North American climates (and come back, year after year.) Let’s change this trend and plant native asters instead of mums.

There are roughly 120 native asters found in North America, in colors ranging from white to pink to purple. Every garden deserves at least three species. Explore our Beginner’s Guide to Native Asters to meet some favorites.

What are good pairings for native asters?

Pair native asters with other native flowers that bloom during the spring and summer, so that your garden always offers food for pollinators. Ideas include:

Native Plants for the spring

Heuchera 'Green-Spice' by Patrick Standish
Alum Root (Heuchera)
amsonia-flowers-in-the-spring-native-garden
Amsonia
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Bee Balm
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Blue-Eyed Grass
canada-anemone-native-flower-in-bloom
Canada Anemone
wood-poppy-celandine-poppy-native-flower
Celandine Poppy

Native plants for the summer

Want to stick within the Asteraceae family?

As mentioned earlier, hundreds of native flowers include the same beautiful floret centers. Why not plant a native Asteraceae garden? Some favorites include:

And that sums up our guide to the differences between mums, asters, and daises! We hope this guide helped you understand their family tree alongside the benefits of planting native asters. Sadly, the iconic white-and-yellow daises and fall-time favorite chrysanthemums are not native to North America. But we have 100+ species of native aster to plant instead. Our Beginner’s Guide to Native Asters introduces a few species perfect for North American gardens. Or head over to our regional guides listed below to find more options. Happy planting!

Explore native plants by region

UPDATED —
09/09/2024