What is the difference between a mum and an aster?

Question

They look pretty much the same to me.

Answer 1

Actually the Chrysanthemum family has been redivided into several over the last 10 years or so. But the common mums you are probably thinking about vary in flower type (cushion, daisy, button, football, spider, and spoon petal), has a wide range of colors, and plant sizes from compact to 3' or more (footballs). The leaves are deeply lobed and somewhat serrated, while the color foliage is an olive to medium green. Bloom time is early fall. Best if pinched each spring to encourace branching. Also best if divided every couple of years  and replanted.

Asters blooms pretty much fall into the daisy form, most are small, but some to 2"  The color range is more limited with blues, lavenders, and purples dominant, but pinks and whites also available. The Aster foliage is darker green, almost a blue green, and usually with a small slender leaf. There are compact varieties to about 18" but many get 3' or more. In most areas, they are hardier perennials, requiring less maintenance. They bloom usually at the end of summer, prior to fall.

Aster Frikarti was alwways my favorite due to an extended bloom time, but that one struggles when I live.

TopCatt

Answer 2

A Mum is what the British call the woman who gave birth to them.  An aster is a woman who came over on the Titanic.

Answer 3

they are in two different families.  Asters can sometimes grow taller than mums, and are hardier. they look  like  the daisy type mum.

Answer 4

Yeah, they do.  They are both in the Asteraceae family but it's a huge family!  The way to group them into their respective tribes, and genera is through the flower.......what you are probably calling flower petal, but each of those are an individual flower, male, female, sterile male, etc.  In some plants you have the "daisy effect" with the yellow centers, those two are flowers.  Differences, yeah gads I don't think I've ever found a definitive difference in reading as my mind starts spinning after awhile.  Taxonomy isn't my forte.  

There's been a lot more work on the mums so they vary a lot more from poms to spiders etc. Also size......Mums can be quite large whereas asters kinds stay medium to low.

And mums are easily divided in the spring, I've never tried with asters as I'm not in prime aster country, I'm pleased to get them to grow at all.  

See if you can find a difference in leaf shape to help you otherwise do what the rest of us lazy gardeners do, read the label!  OK, in time you'll learn to easily recognize the asters as there aren't as many of them as there are mums.  Smaller flowers, limited color range, etc may be helpers to you.  

Hard question, wish I could come up with an easy answer.