Much touted by Christopher Lloyd as a keystone perennial in his Dixter borders, I started some of these plants from seed in 2018 for the memory garden. Many of them germinated and grew, but I lost a lot of them over the winter. The two that were left have been superstars, though, and they are starting to seed around a bit, so I should have voluntary V. bonariensis for years to come.

There are many things to like about this plant. It is tall–gets to about five feet for me, with strong stems and deep green color. The tiny flowers still manage to be showy in their massed umbels and they last for months, opening a few florets at a time over the summer and fall. This plant is also a pollinator favorite and one of the few plants I can count on to attract the Skipper butterflies that I love.

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I will try to get more photos of the plants in 2020–I’m not sure how I managed to not get any pictures last year. I guess that speaks to this plant being more of a background enhancement and less of an attention-seeking diva.