Start you plants first from seed, then use fall or spring root divisions to multiply your favourite form. Almost any soil will do, but a loose sandy soil mixed with organic matter is best. Plant roots at, or just below the surface. In the garden asters are best used in a perennial border. They spread easily though so you will need to control them ruthlessly.
Leafy asters are ideal for growing in meadows and in fence lines.
Competition by other plants will control their spread, while their colour will be much welcome among the browns of late summer and fall. However the Thompson people of the southern B.C. interior used asters for medicine. The water from boiled roots served to treat swelling of the stomach, loss of appetite and dyspepsia. A strong medicine was made for syphilis by mixing the boiled root water with the oily liquid from boiled salmon. Foliaceus means leafy.