Blazing star also called gayfeather, is a native to the open areas of North America, East of the Mississippi; Canada to Florida and Mexico. Blazing Star is naturalized or can be grown in all regions of North America. Blazing star is a striking plant of the summer prairie. Blazing star is found in dry fields, prairies, and dry roadside ditches.

 

It is a purple flower and a perennial. It returns each spring from same roots, forming expanding clump. It blooms second spring from seed and from August through October. It grows 1-4 feet tall.

 

It has tiny flowers in heads 3/4 to 1 inch across. Many tiny purple flowers have showy spikes. The bulb of the plant can be transplanted for first year flowers. It has a vase life of 6 to 10 days. Blazing star is an excellent dried flower. Blooming from the top down, flower heads are densely clustered on stems supporting linear grass like leaves.

 

Blazing star prefers a moist, well-drained, fertile soil in full sun. It may take two to three years to become established from seed.  From seed, it is quite easy, as long as its native conditions of gritty, loose soil is there. If soil is heavy, it will take longer, since a bulbous root must develop.  The plant needs full sun to grow well. The plant has average moisture requirement.

 

Blazing Star is excellent as cut flowers, and in recent years has become a favorite of the florist industry. In the garden, it are best used as a tall border, or naturalized and in wildflower meadows. Blazing Star will take longer than most flowers to show well, sometimes requiring a couple of years, but they are worth the wait. It is a magnet for butterflies, bees, rare moths and hummingbirds, and resists deer.

 

Did you know?

 

• The plant has 138,000 seeds per pound.
• The optimum soil temperature for germination for the plant is 60-75F.
• Three species of blazing star are known to Wolf Road Prairie and are found blooming within a rich matrix of related herbaceous plants.