.png) Eryngium yuccifolium $7.95
- flowering season: summer
- height: leaves 18 - 24 inches high, flower stems to 4 and 5 feet
- Light requirements: sun
- Soil requirements: average
- Water requirments: average to dry; young plants that are newly transplanted need to be watered regularly their first summer, but after the first year, survive well with only what Mother Nature provides
- Growth habit: a slowly thickening clump
- How to propagate: from seeds or by dividing
- Leaf type: long narrow leaves with small, mostly harmless prickles along the margins
- Ways to use it: makes a dramatic statement in the landscape
- Special characteristics: the leaves are a glaucous blue-green
Here is an upright, architectural plant that is native to a large area of the United States - from New Jersey south to Florida, west to Texas, north to Minnesota and eastwards back to New Jersey. Quite a range. Despite being a native, it has an exotic appearance, resembling something from the desert Southwest, such as a yucca that its species name, yuccifolium, refers to. It has a very tough consitution, withstanding drought and less than ideal garden conditions. The plant's leaves grow to eighteen inches tall, with flowers coming in late summer on stems of four to five feet. The flowers are round, creamy buttons, in thistle-like clusters. Earlier Americans thought its roots could cure the venom from a snake bit, and gave this plant the name of “rattlesnake master.” (This plant, most definitely, does not attract snakes.) In a garden, its upright growth makes a nice accent. Not easy to find at nurseries or garden centers. USDA Zones 4 - 9. $7.95 |
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