September Birth Flower: Aster and Morning Glory, and What They Mean

September's birth flowers are the aster and the morning glory. Asters are the purple, pink and white stars that light up Canadian roadsides and gardens just as summer ends; morning glories are the climbing vines whose trumpet flowers open with the sun and close by afternoon.

This guide covers what each flower means, the aster colour meanings, and how to send a September birthday bouquet when one of the two flowers won't survive a delivery van. Our aster guide lists every arrangement we deliver that includes asters.

What is the birth flower for September?

The aster is the main September birth flower, and the morning glory is the second. Asters are in full bloom in September across most of Canada, and morning glories keep flowering on fences and trellises until the first frost.

The name aster comes from the Greek word for star, after the ring of thin petals around a yellow centre. One familiar kind, the Michaelmas daisy, is named for the feast of Michaelmas on September 29, when it's usually in flower.

Aster flower meaning

Asters stand for love, patience and wisdom, and in the Victorian language of flowers they were tokens of love and daintiness. Greek myth offers a pretty origin story: the goddess Astraea is said to have wept over the earth, and asters sprang up where her tears fell. It's a gentle, thoughtful birth flower, a good match for someone wise beyond their years or endlessly patient with the rest of us.

Asters are also the traditional flower for a 20th wedding anniversary, so they suit a long-married couple as well as a September birthday. Our anniversary flowers by year guide lists the others.

Aster meaning by colour

Most aster colour meanings come from modern flower guides rather than old tradition, but these are the common readings:

• Purple: wisdom and royalty. Purple is the classic aster colour.
• Lavender and blue: calm and faithfulness.
• Pink: love and sensitivity, a sweet choice for a mother, sister or friend.
• Red: devotion, for a partner's birthday.
• White: purity and innocence.

Asters in Canadian fields and flower shops

Native asters grow wild across most of southern Canada, often side by side with goldenrod in September fields; the deep purple New England aster is one of the best known. Botanists have since moved most North American asters into other genera, such as Symphyotrichum, but almost everyone still calls them asters. Florists use a few cultivated kinds:

• Monte Casino asters, sprays of tiny white or lavender star flowers that add texture to mixed bouquets.
• Matsumoto asters, a type of China aster with larger, fuller blooms in purple, pink, red and white. Our Matsumoto aster guide shows them in arrangements.
• Solidaster, a cross between an aster and goldenrod with small yellow flowers, often used as a filler.

Morning glory meaning

The morning glory stood for affection in the Victorian language of flowers. Because each bloom opens for a single morning and fades by evening, it also came to mean the beauty of fleeting moments, and sometimes love that doesn't last. That sounds sad, but most people read it as a reminder to enjoy the day while it's here.

In Japan, where the flower is called asagao, breeding new morning glory varieties became a popular pastime in the Edo period, and it's still a classic summer plant there. The flowers come in sky blue, purple, pink and white, and the blue 'Heavenly Blue' is one of the clearest blues in any garden.

Why florists can't send morning glories

Morning glories aren't a cut flower. Each bloom lasts one day on the vine and closes within hours once picked, so florists don't carry them. The plant is also toxic: the ASPCA lists morning glory as toxic to cats and dogs, and the seeds are the most dangerous part. To bring the morning glory into a bouquet, borrow its colours:

• Blue delphinium for that clear morning-glory blue, on tall spikes that give a bouquet height.
• Purple or white lisianthus, whose soft, flared blooms are the closest florist flower to a morning glory's trumpet. Our lisianthus guide covers them.
• Seeds for a gardener. If you'll see them in person, a packet of morning glory seeds makes a nice extra for someone with a sunny fence, as long as there are no pets or small children who might eat them.

Choosing a September birthday bouquet

September is an easy month for flowers: late-summer blooms are still around and the first autumn colours are arriving. Asters fit both, and they last well, often a week or more in a vase. If there's a cat at home, check the rest of the bouquet too, since lilies are often mixed in and are very dangerous to cats. Our flowers safe for cats list has more. A few to consider:

• Purple and lavender. The Splendid Day Bouquet pairs lavender roses with lavender Monte Casino and purple Matsumoto asters, the September flower front and centre.
• Hot pink. The Pink Pursuits Bouquet mixes hot pink roses and carnations with Matsumoto asters and waxflower.
• Bright and cheerful. The Bright Lights Bouquet sets yellow Asiatic lilies and pink roses with purple stock and lavender Monte Casino asters in a basket (not for a home with cats).
• All purple. Browse our purple flowers for more.

What to write on the card

A line about the birth flower's meaning turns a September birthday bouquet into something more personal. A few to borrow, and more in our birthday wishes with flowers guide:

• "Happy birthday! Asters stand for wisdom and patience, and you have both in spades."
• "A bouquet of stars for my favourite September baby."
• "Morning glories open with the sun. So do you. Happy birthday!"
• "Here's to a new year that starts in September, just like school did."

Sending a September birthday bouquet anywhere in Canada

Flowers on Demand delivers across every province and territory through a network of local florists, who arrange and hand-deliver each order. Delivery is a flat $19.99. For same-day delivery, order before 1:00 PM in the recipient's time zone, Monday to Saturday; there's no Sunday delivery.

Start with our birthday flowers, or find the town you're sending to on our delivery cities page. Local florists occasionally swap a stem for one of similar style and value when a flower is short, so if one flower matters most, say so in the card or delivery note.

Other birth month flowers

Before September comes the August birth flower, the gladiolus, with the poppy. After it comes the October birth flower: marigold and cosmos. All twelve are in our birth month flowers guide.