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Liatris spicata |
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| Common name |
blazing star; gayfeather |
| Family |
asteraceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial bulb |
| Flowers |
purple, mid-late summer |
| Size |
3 ft |
| Light |
full sun |
| Cultural notes |
drought-tolerant. well-drained soil |
From seed  |
self-seeds in our garden
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| Seed ripens | early October |
Upright-growing perennial that forms colonies by expanding its corms as well as seeding around - which is fine, because they look best massed together. The flowers, which open from the top of the spike and move downward, provide good color in July and early August, when the early flush of spring and summer flowers has faded. The upright faded flowerstalks stay interesting in fall, and provide food for the birds. The driveway bed (shown below) resembles a liatris lawn in mid-summer!
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| | Full bloom mid-July |
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| Same view, late October
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. Seed for this plant is included on my seed trade list One or more images of this plant are included in my stock photo catalog About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Liatris spicata
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| veronica utter | Apr 23, 2010 | These lovelies have graced our garden for many years. I had read early that they don't like to be moved. I have split them with a knife and moved them more than once with no problem. The deer like them. They are what I would call low care plants. Great for the garden. |
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