Blephilia ciliata - DOWNY WOOD MINT
Showy, easy to grow, suitable for garden conditions and with superior qualities for native pollinators!
Usually reaches 12-18" in height, 12" wide (stay in clumps that slowly spread wide from tap root area). Good upright growth, somewhat reminds of Monarda or Mint, but it's less aromatic and also doesn't spread aggressively as mint.
Flowers for about 4 weeks in June/July with small purple-pink flowers arranged in pagoda-like clusters.
Full sun, half shade, average soils with average moisture. Adaptable to soil types, including dry clay, rocky, shallow or sandy soil. Medium moist to medium-dry or dry soil.
This mint family member is native to central and eastern and northeastern part of USA and Canada, where can be found in savannas, open woods, often in open areas, prairies, bluffs, limestone outcrops with shallower soil, thickets, limestone glades, usually on drained soils.
Hardy in zone 4 to 8.
Attracts many native long-tongued and short-tongued bees, bumblebees, butterflies, skippers and Syrphid flies (bee visitors include honeybees, bumblebees, Anthophorine bees, little carpenter bees, leaf-cutting bees, Halictine bees, masked bees).
Deer and rabbit avoids it. Black walnut and drought tolerant.
Best in naturalistic plantings, pollinator or butterfly gardens, herb gardens, in dry flower beds or drier woodland edges.
Combine with native perennials Amsonia (shorter cultivars), Asclepias (tuberosa, verticillata), Callirhoe, Coreopsis, Dalea, Echinacea, Oenothera, Penstemons, or introduced perennials like Calamintha, Hyssopus, Lavandula, Satureja, Origanum and other drought tolerant plants and grasses (Bouteloa, Muhlenbergia, Sporobolus etc).
Pot size : square 3.5" x 5" deep pot
Picture copyright : Michael Wolf, Commons Wikipedia
Blephilia ciliata - DOWNY WOOD MINT
Showy, easy to grow, suitable for garden conditions and with superior qualities for native pollinators!
Usually reaches 12-18" in height, 12" wide (stay in clumps that slowly spread wide from tap root area). Good upright growth, somewhat reminds of Monarda or Mint, but it's less aromatic and also doesn't spread aggressively as mint.
Flowers for about 4 weeks in June/July with small purple-pink flowers arranged in pagoda-like clusters.
Full sun, half shade, average soils with average moisture. Adaptable to soil types, including dry clay, rocky, shallow or sandy soil. Medium moist to medium-dry or dry soil.
This mint family member is native to central and eastern and northeastern part of USA and Canada, where can be found in savannas, open woods, often in open areas, prairies, bluffs, limestone outcrops with shallower soil, thickets, limestone glades, usually on drained soils.
Hardy in zone 4 to 8.
Attracts many native long-tongued and short-tongued bees, bumblebees, butterflies, skippers and Syrphid flies (bee visitors include honeybees, bumblebees, Anthophorine bees, little carpenter bees, leaf-cutting bees, Halictine bees, masked bees).
Deer and rabbit avoids it. Black walnut and drought tolerant.
Best in naturalistic plantings, pollinator or butterfly gardens, herb gardens, in dry flower beds or drier woodland edges.
Combine with native perennials Amsonia (shorter cultivars), Asclepias (tuberosa, verticillata), Callirhoe, Coreopsis, Dalea, Echinacea, Oenothera, Penstemons, or introduced perennials like Calamintha, Hyssopus, Lavandula, Satureja, Origanum and other drought tolerant plants and grasses (Bouteloa, Muhlenbergia, Sporobolus etc).
Pot size : square 3.5" x 5" deep pot
Picture copyright : Michael Wolf, Commons Wikipedia