Dense Blazing Star

Dense Blazing Star Liatris spicata

One of the “Hot” plants of summer, this vertically oriented plant with grass-like leaves and vivid, rosy-purple flower spikes (good in cut or dried arrangements), is one that’s typically easy-to-grow in full sun in moist/average soils (even wet) in formal and/or wild gardens.

It is also a terrific pollinator plant that benefits bees/butterflies/hummingbirds and has relatively large seeds that can feed many songbirds.

Flower buds first begin opening at the tip of the spike, followed by those below, and the progression of seed ripening follows this same pattern. The picture to the right catches one successful bee, its hind legs loaded with pollen, actively foraging among the active flowers.

Gardeners who love knowing their native plants can also feed birds will do well to remember that not removing the spent, browned-out flowers to “tidy up” or encourage additional flowering displays (a practice called deadheading) will lead to fully ripened seeds that many songbirds are fully cognizant of finding and feasting upon.

This final picture shows fully ripened slate-colored seeds, each complete with a tuft of light brown hairs that act like a parachute, enabling them to hitch rides on air currents and animal fur and travel to new locations with the aim of starting the next chapter in their lives (if they are not eaten, of course, and rarely, if ever, are all eaten).    

Perhaps surprisingly, this species has rather a long list of medicinal uses. Among many others, as an antibacterial, an expectorant, diuretic and stimulant, for the treatment of sore throats, gonorrhea and kidney stones. 

Courtesy of Mark Gormel

Senior Manager of Horticulture

Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art (Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania)