Welcome to my Wildflower Wednesday post, to see other wildflowers click on the link for hostess Gail's
Clay and Limestone blog, this month she is featuring Blue Mist Flower, formerly Eupatorium coelestinum, don't you hate those name changes. I wanted to grow this for the beautiful flowers, and ordered one from Prairie Nursery along with some other plants, but they all grew but this one, however, 5 tiny seedlings emerged in the pot, and grew, and assuming they are the correct plant are now 6" tall and I just planted them out, so perhaps next year they will bloom. Prairie Nursery is sending me a replacement in the fall. Gail's lovely photos are giving me a bad case of plant lust. A problem with it is that it likes moist to wet soil (great for a boggy place!) but with the PNW dry summers, not so great, but I'm planting a couple by my leaky lawn hose bib where the ground tends to be soggy.
This month I'm featuring Holodiscus discolor, commonly known as Oceanspray, Ironwood, or Cream Bush. It blooms in late spring. with a frothy cascade of tiny 5 petalled fragrant flowers attractive to butterflies and other insects. It is common along roadsides since it tends to move into disturbed ground. Mine are at the edge of the woods along one side of my property.
The wood is very dense, so was used by the Native Americans for arrows, knitting needles, and joining pegs. Mine tend to flop, so I have cut back or propped them.
The spent flowers tend to turn brown and are not very attractive, best trimmed off if time permits.
Thanks for visiting, Hannah
Lovely plant and one that was new to me. I'm always glad to learn of plants with which I'm unfamiliar. Wildflower Wednesday is a good place for that.
ReplyDeleteI get envious because it seems like most of the wildflowers everyone raves about are native to the eastern US. But we do have some natives here, this is one.
ReplyDeleteWhat a showy display of blooms!
ReplyDeleteVery pretty!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie
Thanks, Lea. I'm blessed with a little wild woodland and patches of natives left by the PO who logged extensively then planted grass.
ReplyDeleteOh, this is a favorite native shrub! I have two, but one of them I think I need to move. I love to see huge stands of them flowering on the roadsides. It's true, our western natives are so different from all the eastern ones. Not many of ours are grown by the big online native nurseries like Prairie or Prairie Moon, which is kind of a bummer.
ReplyDeleteSo do you cut yours back after it blooms? I feel like it needs dead-heading but don't always get around to it, but maybe that would fix the droopiness. I always wonder when I grow the wildflowers native to the eastern US if there is something wrong with that, but there are so many I like.
DeleteI'd never heard of this bush (nor the change of name for Eupatorium coelestinum!). I think these Wildflower Wednesdays are a real eye-opener for me. The Holodiscus is quite beautiful & I'm thinking the brown flowers wouldn't be so bad - they have such a lacy form. Really glad I stopped by.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Barbara. The new name is Conoclinum coelestinum. I guess the taxonomists have their reasons, but it is annoying how many of the plants I grow have new names. They also changed the name on my Mahonias. The Oceanspray hangs down so much, is maybe the problem, perhaps I'm need to cut it back a lot after it blooms.
DeleteHow nice to hae a tree with blossoms that attract butterflies!
ReplyDeleteIt is nice when in bloom, but then the flowers turn brown so not so attractive.
DeleteOn of my favorite native flower here on the west coast is the California Poppy. I have had my potted ones bloom for quite a long time. There are some coastal flowers I have seen when driving along the Pacific Coast Highway that are lovely, but I am not sure what they are. And we hardly ever pull over, it is just not a great place to stop to look at flowers. :)When I lived in Vermont, we had http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_rugosa all over the place. I have wanted to try them here in California.
ReplyDeleteGoing to wild areas and looking at native wildflowers is a treat for me, I don't have time to do it presently very often.
DeleteRosa rugosa is wonderful! The hips are edible and the deer leave it alone. Mine are on a bank and are like 8-10' tall. The problem was when we had heavy snow and they collapsed. If you can imagine trying to deal with all that heavily thorned dead material.... (I couldn't) I've seen it grown where it is cut down to 2-3' every winter like a Hybrid Tea. I would really like to get Moore's Striped Rugosa, it is wonderful. Maybe next year. I used to buy a lot of roses from his nursery, Sequoia, but he closed it finally, he was over 100. There is someone selling his roses now though, Burlington Rose Nursery.
Hannah, this is a beautiful plant! I love seeing them in boom! Thanks for featuring it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peter. I have so many nice natives, but not some I would really like- Vanilla Leaf, Asarum canadense, other cool plants I see in the woods, I also failed to start Goldenseal and Ginseng in my woods. I think it's because all of those require more moisture and I really can't keep 2 acres watered, so much of it goes without water all summer. Oceanspray has to be one of the drought-tolerant ones.;-)
DeleteHannah, One tends to think that the PNW is always wet! I wish you could have some of the pretty moisture loving plants. You know, I have the same wish about sun loving prairie plants. I wish for more sun, but have what I have and there's only so many I can jam into a small sunny spot! Ocean spray is a lovely plant....Have you noticed that many white flowers fade to brown. Oh well, they're gorgeous in bloom. Happy WW. gail
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ReplyDeleteThanks, Gail, thanks for hosting. I like learning about wildflowers. I tend to favor drought-tolerant plants, but do grow some that like regular water, I just have to have them in beds that are easy to water, I can't really drag hoses around the perimeters of the 2 acres, which are mostly wild plants.
ReplyDeleteI do love learning about other wildflowers from areas other than the NE where I live...this is a beauty.
ReplyDeleteWhat gorgeous blossoms and I love the info you provided, too.
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