Liatris cylindracea

Liatris cylindracea: Short, Tough Blazing Star for Dry Ground

Ontario Blazing Star is a homegrown native that shows up to the prairie party in a perfectly pressed cylinder of bracts. Fluffy pinkish-purple heads open from the top down. LOCAL, TIDY AND A LITTLE BIT SMUG.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Liatris cylindracea
• Common Name: Ontario Blazing Star, also called cylindric blazing star
• Height: 23–60 cm (9–24 in)
• Spread: 25 cm (10 in)
• Flowers: Fluffy pinkish-purple flower heads, 1–2 cm (1/2–3/4 in) across, in a loose spike that opens from the top down. Each head sits in a neat cylinder of overlapping bracts, which is where the species name comes from.
• Bloom Time: Midsummer to early fall (July to September)
• Foliage: Narrow, grass-like green leaves

Where to Plant: This is a short blazing star, so give it a spot near the front where it won't get lost. It suits rock gardens, gravel gardens, dry slopes, sandy beds and small prairie-style plantings, and it's a good choice for a sunny strip that never gets watered.

Companion Plants: Plant cylindrical blazing star in a dry, sunny native bed with sandy soil and other prairie plants. Allium schoenoprasum adds lavender chive flowers at 30 cm in May and June. Achillea millefolium brings flat white heads at 60 cm in June and July. Verbena stricta adds lavender-purple spikes at 60 to 100 cm from June to September. Panicum virgatum rises behind at 90 to 150 cm in flower, a native switchgrass.

Plant Care: Plant it in full sun in sandy, gravelly or otherwise well-drained soil. Poor soil is fine. Heavy, wet clay is not, especially in winter, when soggy ground can rot the corm. If your soil is clay, plant it on a slope or in a raised spot. Water regularly through the first season. After that, it should cope with dry spells on its own. Skip the fertilizer. Leave the seed heads standing into fall for winter interest and for the birds, then cut the stems back in late fall or early spring. It rarely needs dividing.

History: Liatris cylindracea grows wild in southern Ontario and around the Great Lakes, west and south into the central United States, on dry, open, often sandy or limestone ground. The species name refers to the cylinder-shaped flower heads, and the common name gives Ontario the credit.

Final Thoughts: It handles dry spells once settled and keeps the bees and butterflies fed. Put it in your sunniest, scrappiest spot. IT HAS BEEN WAITING FOR A CHALLENGE.