September doesn't have one birth flower. It has two. The aster and the morning glory split the month between them, and once you know why, gift shopping for a September birthday gets a lot easier.
If you're buying for someone born this month, or you were born in it yourself, here's what these two flowers actually mean: where the names come from, what the colors say, and how to keep them alive past the first week.
Why September Has Two Birth Month Flowers
Most months settled on one flower. September never quite did. The custom of birth month flowers hardened into its modern shape during the Victorian era, when handing someone a specific bloom was basically sending a coded message. Different regional lists disagreed on which flower belonged to which month, and by the time florists tried to standardize things, September had two strong contenders that nobody wanted to drop.
So we ended up with both. That's genuinely good news for gift givers: if one flower's out of season or out of stock, the other covers you, and you're not stuck waiting on a single bloom window. The aster carries the month from late summer into the first frosts. The morning glory has usually finished its run by the time asters hit their stride. Between the two, September's covered start to finish.
Aster - September's Primary Birth Flower
The aster is the one most people mean when they say "September's birth flower." It's a workhorse of a plant that gets going right as summer fades, and it's been carrying symbolic weight for a couple thousand years before anyone thought to put it in a birthday bouquet.
Aster Meanings and the Story Behind the Name
The aster carries a rich history for such an unassuming flower. Its name comes from the ancient Greek word for star, and the resemblance is obvious once you look: thin petals radiating out from a center, like a child's drawing of one. Greek mythology has an origin story to match. The goddess Astraea looked down at earth, saw how few stars were left in the sky, and wept. Wherever her tears landed, asters grew. It's a nice story. Probably not true. Stuck around for two thousand years anyway.
In ancient Greek and Roman cultures, the aster carried real weight. People wove it into wreaths, laid it on altars as offerings, and valued it for its beauty and its supposed medicinal properties. Some believed burning the leaves warded off snakes and bad energy, a belief that goes back to ancient times and somehow never quite died out. By the time the flower reached Victorian England, it had settled into its modern job: saying things out loud felt risky, so people said them with flowers instead. An aster meant love that hadn't been spoken yet, wisdom earned rather than given, patience with someone worth waiting for.
Color changes the symbolic meaning. Purple, the most common shade, still reads as royalty and wisdom. White means purity, plain and simple. Pink softens things into love and kindness. Red is devotion, no hedging. Blue is rare, a little pricier at the florist because of it, and reads as calm. Put it together and asters symbolize love, wisdom, faith, and patience, which happens to describe most of the September birthdays I've shopped for. They're also considered a token of good fortune, a nice bonus for a gift that mostly just needs to look good in a vase.
What an Aster Flower Actually Looks Like
Botanically, asters belong to the Asteraceae family, one of the largest plant families on earth, with more than 23,000 species in it: daisies, sunflowers, and the aster itself, all under one roof. What makes an aster look like an aster is that central disk, usually yellow, ringed by slender petals in vibrant colors with that classic star-like appearance.
Florists mostly work with New England asters and China asters, bred for fuller blooms and a longer vase life. In the garden, they turn up in cottage gardens and mixed borders everywhere, since they're one of the only things still flowering once everything else has given up for the year. Cut asters typically hold their color for six to ten days in a clean vase, longer than most people expect from something that looks this delicate.
Morning Glory - September's Secondary Birth Flower
If the aster is the dependable one, the morning glory is its opposite. It's a vine, not a border plant. It opens fast, blooms hard, and quits by early afternoon, every single day, for its entire season. Half a day of bloom, if that. September's second birth flower doesn't ask for much attention. It just doesn't stay long.
Morning Glory Meanings Across Cultures
Morning glories symbolize love and affection too, but with a different emphasis than the aster. Where the aster is about love that lasts, the morning glory is about love you notice while it's in front of you. Give someone a morning glory and you're saying: pay attention now, this won't wait.
That short lifespan gave the flower a reputation for unrequited longing in more than one culture, love that shows up, burns bright, and doesn't get to stay. It's not all wistful, though. Morning glories are just as often read as new beginnings, even a fresh start, since the plant produces a brand-new flower every single morning rather than trying to make one bloom last.
The meaning shifts depending on where you are. In Japan, where morning glories have been bred for over a thousand years, the flower ties closely to summer itself, and whole neighborhoods in Tokyo still hold morning glory fairs before sunrise just to catch the blooms at their best. In China, it leans toward happiness, peace, and harmony rather than romance. Various cultures have also used it in traditional medicine for digestive issues, inflammation, and wound healing, going back centuries before anyone thought to put it in a bouquet.
What a Morning Glory Vine Actually Looks Like
Morning glory belongs to the Convolvulaceae family. The flower itself is trumpet-shaped, usually two to four inches across, opening flat like a little satellite dish aimed at the sunrise. The plant is a fast-growing vine that climbs by twining its stems around anything within reach: a trellis, a fence, a mailbox, if you let it get that far.
There are hundreds of morning glory species, native mostly to tropical and subtropical regions, though the common garden variety has made itself at home pretty much anywhere warm enough. Given the right support, a single vine can grow six to ten feet in one season. Its closest relative, oddly enough, is the sweet potato: same genus, same heart-shaped leaves, very different job in the garden. Fun fact: botanically, the sweet potato is basically a morning glory that decided to focus on the roots.
Aster and Morning Glory at a Glance
Side by side, the two barely resemble each other. Here's the short version.
| Aster | Morning Glory | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Love, wisdom, faith, patience | Love, fleeting beauty, new beginnings |
| Bloom season | Late summer through early fall | Early summer through early fall |
| Daily habit | Stays open for days | Opens at sunrise, closes by afternoon |
| Vase life, cut | 6–10 days | Not practical as a cut flower |
| Best gift for | Anniversaries, milestone birthdays, “thanks for sticking around” | New job, new baby, “seize the day” moments |
That last row matters more than people think. Want cut flowers in a box? Lead with asters and use morning glory as an accent, or skip it for a potted vine instead. Shipping morning glory as a bouquet is a good way to disappoint someone by Tuesday.
If You Want to Grow Your Own
Neither flower is fussy, and you don't need a green thumb to keep either one alive.
Asters like full sun and well-drained soil, and grow one to six feet tall and one to three feet wide depending on the variety. A balanced fertilizer every couple of weeks keeps them blooming, and deadheading spent flowers encourages continuous blooming instead of calling it a season early.
Morning glories want full sun too, though they'll tolerate partial shade. Soak the seeds in water for twenty-four hours before planting, it speeds up germination noticeably, then water deeply once or twice a week once they're established, and give them something to climb.
One thing worth skipping: leaving either flower near a sunny window once they're cut. Direct sunlight through glass does more harm than good to a flower that's already been separated from its roots.
September Birthday Bouquet and Gift Ideas
Buying flowers for loved ones with a September birthday is honestly one of the easier gifting problems to solve, because both birth flowers already come loaded with a story you don't have to invent.
Asters do the talking for someone you've known a long time: a parent, a longtime partner, a friend from college. Pair purple asters with dahlias or chrysanthemums for a bouquet that reads as put-together without trying too hard. Stick to one color family if you want it to look intentional rather than assembled last-minute.
For a lighter touch, a small potted morning glory trained onto a hoop or a mini trellis makes a gift that keeps growing after the birthday's over. It's a strange little present, honestly, since it needs more attention than a bouquet. But it lasts longer than a week of cut flowers ever could, and it says something a store-bought card can't.
Somewhere in between: a mixed arrangement using asters as the base, with a trailing stem of morning glory woven through for movement. Order it early if morning glory's involved. By the time it's delivered in the afternoon, those blooms may already be closed, and nobody wants to explain that on someone's birthday.
Whatever you choose, both flowers travel well and hold up fine in transit, small bouquet or full arrangement. You don't need an excuse beyond the birthday itself, though September also happens to be a decent stretch for deliveries, since the flowers aren't wilting in a hot van the way summer blooms sometimes do.
Bonus: September's Birthstone and Zodiac Connection
The birth flowers line up with September's birthstone and zodiac sign in a way that's genuinely useful for gift matching, and almost nobody mentions it.
September's birthstone is sapphire, almost always a deep blue. Blue happens to be the rarest color an aster comes in, which makes a blue-aster-and-sapphire pairing feel less like a coincidence and more like a theme: wisdom, loyalty, and calm, repeated across two different gifts.
Zodiac-wise, September covers most of Virgo and the start of Libra. Virgo season lines up almost exactly with peak aster bloom, and in Greek mythology, Virgo connects to the very same goddess, Astraea, whose tears supposedly created the aster to begin with. Whether anyone actually believes the myth or not, it's a tidy detail for a card or a gift tag.
None of this is essential. But if you're building a themed gift, like sapphire earrings, a small blue-toned arrangement, or a note that mentions the constellation, the pieces already fit together without much effort on your part.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the aster or the morning glory September's "real" birth flower?
Both, officially. The aster is generally treated as the primary birth flower, since it's the one most florists lead with and the one most people picture. The morning glory is the secondary pick, no less valid, just less commonly used in arrangements because it doesn't hold up once it's cut.
Why does September have two birth flowers instead of one?
Different historical lists never fully agreed on a single flower for the month, so the tradition kept both rather than picking a winner. Works out well for gift givers: more options, fewer excuses.
Do morning glories mean the same thing everywhere?
Not quite. In Japan they're tied to summer itself and celebrated with dedicated flower fairs. In China they lean toward happiness and harmony. In the West, the meaning usually centers on love, fleeting beauty, and unrequited longing, mostly because of how fast the bloom closes.
Can you actually send morning glories as cut flowers?
Not really. They wilt within hours of being cut, sometimes before the box even arrives. A potted, trained vine is the better gift if morning glory's the one you want to send.
What's the fastest way to keep cut asters alive longer?
Trim the stems at an angle, change the water every two to three days, and keep the vase away from direct sunlight and ripening fruit. The ethylene gas fruit gives off speeds up wilting more than people realize.
Is it true asters were once used to ward off evil spirits?
That's the old belief, yes. Ancient Greeks and Romans reportedly burned aster leaves to keep snakes and bad energy away. No science behind it, but the superstition's old enough that it became part of the flower's story either way.
What's a safe color to send if I don't know the person well?
Purple. It's the most common aster color, reads as thoughtful without being romantic, and is usually the easiest to find on short notice.
Our flower shop has many different ways you could purchase the flowers. You can order flowers online and if you do it before 12pm, you can get same day delivery or you can call us at (310) 817-0605. Finally, you can just visit us in our studio and we will make a bouquet or flower arrangement in a box in 10-20 minutes. For online orders and orders by phone – we have free delivery up to 4 miles from our shop. Our address is 1484 S Robertson Blvd, LA, CA, 90035.
