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Perennial · Asteraceae Draft — unreviewed

Dense blazing star

Liatris spicata (L.) Willd.

Also called dense blazing star, gayfeather.

Upright spikes of fuzzy purple flowers that open from the top down. Strong vertical accent and butterfly plant.

Size over time

Typical landscape size 0.6–1.2 m (2–4 ft) tall and 0.3–0.5 m (1 ft) wide; medium growth, about 3 years to maturity. Intermediate sizes use the planner’s growth curve (k = 0.25) from the #1 install size.

00.511.52mPlanting0.3 × 0.3 mYear 30.6 × 0.3 mYear 100.9 × 0.4 mMature0.9 × 0.4 m

Bloom

Purple flowers, Jul–Aug (northern-hemisphere months; timing shifts with region and season).

Bloom calendar: months each plant is in bloom
PlantJFMAMJJASOND
Dense blazing star : Jul–Aug

Design notes

  • Grows from corms; voles may eat them.
  • Tolerates wet winters better than most prairie liatris.

Regions

Native range: Eastern North America.

Native to these OpenLandscape3D pilot regions:

NortheastSoutheast

Native status describes where the species occurs naturally. It is not a promise that it suits a particular garden; site conditions decide that.

Related plants

Common yarrow
Achillea millefolium · Perennial · 0.5–0.9 m (1–3 ft)
Eastern red columbine
Aquilegia canadensis · Perennial · 0.3–0.6 m (1–2 ft)
Swamp milkweed
Asclepias incarnata · Perennial · 0.9–1.5 m (3–5 ft)
Butterfly weed
Asclepias tuberosa · Perennial · 0.5–0.8 m (1–2 ft)
Blue false indigo
Baptisia australis · Perennial · 0.9–1.2 m (3–4 ft)
Little Joe Joe-Pye weed
Eutrochium dubium 'Little Joe' · Perennial · 0.9–1.2 m (3–4 ft)

Plan with Dense blazing star

Place it in a design, check it against your zone, light and moisture, and see it at year three and year ten.

Start designing Try a sample garden