Liatris pycnostachya - PRAIRIE BLAZING STAR
Showy native perennial with a long flowering period and the best blazing stars for wet soils. Long unbranched spikes of lilac-purple flowers shoot up to the sky; the flowers start to bloom from the tip to the bottom. Excellent cut flower, attractive to little birds, hummingbirds, monarchs and other butterflies and to native bees and honey bees.
Prairie Blazing Star is recognized as a wildflower with special native bee value by The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
This species blooms after Liatris cylindrica (Cylindrical Blazingstar) but before Liatris aspera (Rough Blazingstar). It was collected by French plant hunter Andre Michaux in 1795 on the prairies of Illinois.
May be planted in a border, but is better in more natural-looking areas, cut-flower gardens, wild gardens, pollinator gardens, monarch and butterfly gardens, native plant gardens, naturalized areas, prairies or meadows. Can be combined with many prairie perennials, but the best combos are with yellow and white flowers – companions that bloom at the same time include Aster novae-angliae, Eryngium yuccifolium, Ratibida pinnata, Rudbeckia fulgida, Silphium terebinthinaceum, or Solidago.
Picture origin : Wikipedia Commons, free domain by Daderot
Blooming Time: July/August to September
Size: 4’ tall x less than 1’ wide, spacing 12-18”
USDA Zones: 3 to 9
Culture: full sun, half shade, easily grown in average soil, from dry to moist. Tolerant of clay, poor soils, drought, summer heat and humidity.
Moisture Needs: medium-dry, medium, medium-moist, wet, but also very drought tolerant
Origin: native wildflower to Central and southeastern United States, naturally occurs in moist to mesic black soil prairies, moist meadows near woodlands or rivers, limestone glades, rocky bluffs, along railroads etc. See the USDA distribution map.
Deer/Rabbit Resistant: partly resistant to deer / partly resistant to rabbits. Rabbits like to eat young plants, and mature plants can be browsed by deer or groundhogs, so they may need some protection in areas that are heavily populated by herbivores (liquid fence). Voles can sometimes eat the corms.
Attracts Butterflies or Pollinators: highly attractive to many pollinators, both long-tongued bees (honeybees, bumblebees, Little Carpenter bees, Miner bees, large Leaf-Cutting bees) and other native bees such as Halictine bees. Attracts butterflies like Monarchs, Swallowtails, Painted Ladies, Sulfurs, Whites, and others. Other visitors are skippers, bee flies and day-flying moths. The caterpillars of the rare Glorious Flower Moth feed on the flowers and seed capsules.
Attracts Hummingbirds: yes
Pot Size: 3.5" x 4" perennial pot (1.22 pt/580 ml)
Liatris pycnostachya - PRAIRIE BLAZING STAR
Showy native perennial with a long flowering period and the best blazing stars for wet soils. Long unbranched spikes of lilac-purple flowers shoot up to the sky; the flowers start to bloom from the tip to the bottom. Excellent cut flower, attractive to little birds, hummingbirds, monarchs and other butterflies and to native bees and honey bees.
Prairie Blazing Star is recognized as a wildflower with special native bee value by The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
This species blooms after Liatris cylindrica (Cylindrical Blazingstar) but before Liatris aspera (Rough Blazingstar). It was collected by French plant hunter Andre Michaux in 1795 on the prairies of Illinois.
May be planted in a border, but is better in more natural-looking areas, cut-flower gardens, wild gardens, pollinator gardens, monarch and butterfly gardens, native plant gardens, naturalized areas, prairies or meadows. Can be combined with many prairie perennials, but the best combos are with yellow and white flowers – companions that bloom at the same time include Aster novae-angliae, Eryngium yuccifolium, Ratibida pinnata, Rudbeckia fulgida, Silphium terebinthinaceum, or Solidago.
Picture origin : Wikipedia Commons, free domain by Daderot
Blooming Time: July/August to September
Size: 4’ tall x less than 1’ wide, spacing 12-18”
USDA Zones: 3 to 9
Culture: full sun, half shade, easily grown in average soil, from dry to moist. Tolerant of clay, poor soils, drought, summer heat and humidity.
Moisture Needs: medium-dry, medium, medium-moist, wet, but also very drought tolerant
Origin: native wildflower to Central and southeastern United States, naturally occurs in moist to mesic black soil prairies, moist meadows near woodlands or rivers, limestone glades, rocky bluffs, along railroads etc. See the USDA distribution map.
Deer/Rabbit Resistant: partly resistant to deer / partly resistant to rabbits. Rabbits like to eat young plants, and mature plants can be browsed by deer or groundhogs, so they may need some protection in areas that are heavily populated by herbivores (liquid fence). Voles can sometimes eat the corms.
Attracts Butterflies or Pollinators: highly attractive to many pollinators, both long-tongued bees (honeybees, bumblebees, Little Carpenter bees, Miner bees, large Leaf-Cutting bees) and other native bees such as Halictine bees. Attracts butterflies like Monarchs, Swallowtails, Painted Ladies, Sulfurs, Whites, and others. Other visitors are skippers, bee flies and day-flying moths. The caterpillars of the rare Glorious Flower Moth feed on the flowers and seed capsules.
Attracts Hummingbirds: yes
Pot Size: 3.5" x 4" perennial pot (1.22 pt/580 ml)