Tradescantia bracteata - PRAIRIE SPIDERWORT (smaller & for drier or sandy soils)

Short and smaller spiderwort - the smallest of the 3 Midwestern species.

Blue, lavender blue flowers close down for the heat of the day - this also prolongs the flowering season!

Suitable even for smaller gardens, but in ideal conditions can become aggressive - it can seed around and also spread some, but it won't threat taller plants and will just float around.

Excellent wildlife support, black walnut tolerant, but not resistant to deer and rabbits.

Can turn dormant for the summer, especially when over crowded.

Readilly crosspolinates with other spiderwort species.

Blooming Time: May to June/July
Size: usualy only 12'' high x up to 12’’ wide
USDA Zones: 3 to 8
Culture: full sun to half-shade; very adaptable to soil type – sandy, clay soils (neutral, alkaline, acid), including poor or shallow soils, average moisture to dry
Moisture Needs: medium, medium-dry, dry
Origin: parts of Midwest, central USA, see the BONAP distribution map. Habitats often include sandy soils, because it can't compete with taller vigorous plants on rich soils. You can find it in upland sand prairies, hill prairies, barren areas, along railroads, and roadsides, often on disturbed spots, but also in high quality areas (especially on sandy soils).
Deer/Rabbit Resistant: no/no
Attracts Butterflies or Pollinators: honeybees, bumblebees, Halictid bees, and Syrphid flies. However, most Syrphid flies are too small to be effective at cross-pollination. The leaf beetles can feed on the foliage (Lema collaris, Lema longipennis, Oulema cornuta, and Oulema elongata).  In sandy habitats host of Mottled Sand Grasshopper.
Attracts Hummingbirds: no
Pot Size: square 3.5" x 4" deep perennial pot (1.22 pt/580 ml)
Plant Combinations: can be combined with majority of perennials or wildflowers for average or drier (or dry) soil. Because of it's "grassy look", it  makes nice combos with bigger leaves and more bold structure of (for example with) Alchemilla, Bergenia, hardy Geranium, Heuchera, Monarda bradburiana, Nepeta kubanica, Paeonia, Phlox carolina hybrids, Salvia nemorosa hybrids (more robust ones)Sedum telephium, Spigelia. Or combined with very delictae structures of Nepeta x faasenii hybrids, smaller narrow-leaf Amsonia hybrids, Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta, and fine leaves grasses like Koeleria macrantha, Muhlenbergia, Sporobolus and even shorter cultivars of Schizachyrium scoparium

Picture Copyright: peganum, Commons Wikipedia