(This post originally posted in September 2010)
About a month ago in the Prairie Meadow, I found this unique wildflower plant. At the time, I didn’t know what it was, but the buds told me that it would someday blossom into a lovely plant. Here is what I saw when I first noticed this 4-foot tall plant in the meadow:
And more recently, the buds began to unfold into a real beauty. The plant grows 3-4 feet tall and is a natural attractant for hummingbirds and butterflies. It also adds a splash of color to the meadow:
At that time, I was able to identify this wildflower as a Rough Blazing Star or Gay Feather (Liatris aspera), but didn’t want to showcase it until it had a fuller bloom. Up until now, the only Liatris species I had seen was Liatris pycnostachya, which has a much denser/more compact flowering head, looking somewhat like a cattail with a purple head. But I really love this new one due to the length of the blooms along the stem … quite showy. Yesterday on my trip to the meadow, I made this close-up image of a well-developed and full-blooming plant:
Quite a stunning beauty … so much so that I now have to buy some seeds or small plants and add this Blazing Beauty to my wildflower garden! I’m sure it will be a great addition and add some great color to the garden at a time when most of the flowers are fading away.
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