General Description
Bloom Description: Blooms May-June. Blue, though sometimes white or pink. The inflorescence is aster shaped, but has many, fine ray flowers that are typical of fleabanes.
Growth Habit & Shape: Slowly spreading rhizomatous groundcover.
Soil Preferences: Dry to average, sandy, gravelly, or loamy sand with good drainage.
Root Description: Rhizomatous, fibrous.
Garden Uses: Rock gardens, meadows, short meadows, forest edges, as a groundcover (or green mulch) between larger, clump-forming plants or in part shade.
Best Management & Maintenance: Very low maintenance. Stems die back shortly after blooming, while the basal foliage remains green throughout the season. Easy to transplant after flowering.
Common Problems: No serious problems.
Benefits
Ornamental Value:
Wildlife Benefits: Highly attractive to a variety of early season pollinators, particularly small bees. Caterpillars also use this plant as a food source, including the common pug and the lynx flower moth.
Other Practical/Environmental Benefits: Erosion control, weed suppression.
Use in place of:
Ecology
Habitat:
Grows naturally in a wide range of conditions--dry to moist meadows and fields, forest edges and openings, stream banks.
Response to Disturbance: Resilient to disturbance and will spread into areas that have been recently disturbed with exposed soils. Not as aggressive as other fleabanes.
Native State Distributions:
Canada: ON , QC
USA: AL , AR , CT , DC , FL , GA , IA , IL , IN , KS , KY , LA , MA , MD , ME , MI , MN , MO , MS , NC , NH , NJ , NY , OH , OK , PA , RI , SC , TN , TX , VA , VT , WI , WV
Wetland indicator status: FACU
Companion Plants:
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), wavy hair grass (Deschampsia flexuosa) silverrod (Solidago bicolor), pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), purple love grass (Eragrostis spectabilis), and Foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis).
References
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