Blazing star plants ( Liatris spp . ) brighten midsummer gardens with their unmistakable spikes of electric pinkish - purple , tufted blooms . These sturdy , Aster house perennial handle torrid summertime heat energy and humidity as easily as they do wintertime temperature approaching minus 40 degrees in U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone 3 . Their performance as cut or dried bloom equalise their utility as ornamentals . nurseryman can choose from among several blazing whizz species and cultivars .

Eastern Species

Liatris spicata , also known as gayfeather , ranks as the most widely commercialise of aboriginal blazing star specie . L. spicata thrives along marsh edges and in moist meadows across the Eastern United States , where it typically grows 2 to 4 foot eminent and from 9 to 18 inches wide . Its stem of over-embellished flowers uprise from a basal clump of narrow , grasslike green leaves . The blooms open up in descend edict . Other eastern aboriginal blazing star species admit raspy blaze star ( L. aspera ) , a 1- to 4 - foot , August - to - October flub . Its button flowers open almost at the same time , bring out a more impressive — but shorter - lived – video display than those of L. spicata . Flowering stem can be as long as 32 inch .

Western Species

Rocky Mountain blaze star ( L. ligustylis ) grows from Montana south to New Mexico and into the Dakotas , Minnesota and Wisconsin . This 1- to 3 - foot magniloquent plant can spread out anywhere from 6 inches to 2 base wide . Its 1 1/4 - in flowers bloom simultaneously from midsummer to former fall . The flower ' long stalks give plants an assailable , airy appearance . Compact Liatris punctata physique spread , clumps 1 to 2 feet high . Its flowers open in a tight , rounded spikes from late summertime into midfall . This liatris grows godforsaken from Montana to New Mexico , east through the upper and primal Midwest and in Texas . Speckled leaf accounts its common name of stippled blaze star .

Cultivars

Liatris spicata " Kobold " grows between 18 and 30 inches high , with up to 10 - inch leaves and summertime flowers . The 3/4 - in blooms open on 6- to 15 - in , good stems . While all glary star plants draw butterflies , the Liatris ligustylis " Monarch " cultivar has particular appeal for Monarch butterfly . Typically reach 2 foot tall , Monarch shares the species plant life ’s large , long - stalk blossom and previous summer flower season .

Growing Conditions

Different blazing maven coinage have adapted to growing condition in different parts of the United States . While all of them love full sun , L. spicata does best in moist , fertile well - drain soil during the summertime , but suffers in wet winter conditions . Good drain is especially important for this blazingstar ; plants in heavy filth take much longer to instal . Rough blaze star ( L. aspera ) , aboriginal to dry prairies and open woodlands , thrives in poor , rocky or sandy soils and handles drought without flinching . Rocky Mountain blazing mavin ( L. ligustylis ) prefers juiceless , poor soils but stand moist loam . Plants infertile soil may become marvellous enough to need staking . A long taproot makes dashed blazing whiz ( L. punctata ) the most drouth - tolerant of all Liatris plants . It flourishes in well - drain , sandy soil .

References

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