Scutellaria lateriflora - MAD-DOG SCULLCAP

Quite showy sculcap with smaller flowers, moderately fast spreads with rhizomes and runners to form smaller colonies.

Best for natural looking gardens, bigger rain gardens, erosion control or pollinator gardens on slightly moist to wet soils.

The "mad dog" is a reference to the belief that it can cure rabies (which has been disproven), but this sculcap was used for various herbal remedies in the past.

Blooming Time: from July to September
Size: usually 2' tall x 2' wide (with more moisture and nutrients closer to 3'), spreads wide into small colonies
USDA Zones: 3 to 9
Culture: full sun to half shade, adaptable to variety of soils, but likes moisture
Moisture Needs: average (medium) to medium-moist, moist or wet
Origin: native to most of the states of USA (except Wyoming, Utah, Nevada) and Canada, see the BONAP distribution map. Can be found where more moisture is profound - in bogs, moist meadows, along rivers, in woodland edges and thickets, openings in the woods, in borders of lakes, seeps, wet ditches etc.
Deer/Rabbit Resistant: yes / yes(it's bitter and slightly toxic for them)
Attracts Butterflies or Pollinators: attracts some native bees, host plant for caterpillars of Chorentid Moth
Attracts Hummingbirds: no
Pot Size: square 3.5" x 4" deep perennial pot

Plant combinations: Best for natural looking areas, where some spreading is allowed or welcomed, rain gardens, herb gardens, cottage gardens, pollinator gardens, low maintenance gardens, wildflower gardens, meadows, naturalization in loose woodland garden or edges, for erosion control or in more distant parts of gardens.

It's good to combine with other strong growing, robust and competitive native plants. Good companions can be Asclepias incarnata, moisture-loving Asters (Aster prealtum, Aster puniceum), Boltonia asteriodes, Coreopsis tripteris, Chelone, Filipendula vulgaris, Helianthus, Helenium, Heliopsis, Iris (x lousiana, I. versicolor, I. virginica), Lysimachia, Mimulus, Phlox paniculata, Physostegia, Rudbeckia fulgida, Rudbeckia laciniata, Sanquisorba, Silphium, Solidago, Thalictrum, Veronicastrum and various sedges (Carex). Grass companions include Chasmantium, Panicum, Spartina pectinata.

Can be also used with mounding plants like Amsonia, Baptisia, HIbiscus (H. moscheutos, H. leavis, H. palustris).

Picture copyright: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, Commons Wikipedia