Kickin' Carmine Red (Symphyotrichum 'Kickin Carmine Red') - red flowers, illustrated plant cardIllustration

Kickin' Carmine Red

Symphyotrichum 'Kickin Carmine Red'

Kickin' Carmine Red blooms from August through October.

Bloom calendar
Bloom time
Aug–Oct
checked
Hardiness
Zones 4–8
checked
Sun
Full sun
checked
Water
Moderate water
checked
Mature size
20 in × 20 in
checked
Type
Perennial
house classification

Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.

Growing Kickin' Carmine Red

Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 4–8. Expect it to reach about 20 in tall and 20 in wide at maturity, in roughly 2 years (a house reading).

No toxicity note is on file for Kickin' Carmine Red. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.

Verification
What was checked

Fifteen fields were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it, with every unsettled point written down and decided: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, soil, diseases, pests, toxicity, the plant's own names, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.

See the 11 sources it was checked against

When to plant Kickin' Carmine Red

Plant Kickin' Carmine Red in early spring as soon as the soil is workable, or in early fall at least six weeks before your first frost, so roots establish in cool weather. In zone 6, the middle of its hardy zones 4 to 8, spring means March to May and fall means August or September. Once settled, it blooms from August to October.

Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 6, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 6 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.

How big does Kickin' Carmine Red get?

Illustration of Kickin' Carmine Red drawn to scale beside an adult20 intall5 ft 7 inan adult20 inwide
About 20 in tall and 20 in wide at maturity: knee-high beside an adult.

See Kickin' Carmine Red in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.

How far apart to plant Kickin' Carmine Red

Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.

Space Kickin' Carmine Red about 20 in apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.

Plant them
20 in apart
Per 10 sq ft
about 4
4 by 8 ft bed
about 8

Add Kickin' Carmine Red to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.

Where these facts come from

Kickin' Carmine Red's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, trait tags, soil, diseases, pests and toxicity were checked against 11 published sources on August 23, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources.

How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.

The Aster group

One of 12 in the Aster group. Same genus, similar care.

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Design a garden with this

Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.

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