Description

Key Information:

Soil: Xeric (Dry)
Sun: Full Sun
Height: 1-2 feet
Bloom Color: Purple
Bloom Season: June – August

More Details:

Suggested Uses: Flodman’s Thistle is a non-aggressive, native thistle. This showy thistle has beautiful magenta-colored flower heads and is favored by the American Goldfinch. This plant is an indicator of remnant prairie and behaves nothing like the Canada Thistle or Bull Thistle in nature. Attractive to native bees.

Native Range: Native to the northern Great Plains.

Pollinators: Diverse array of insects! Bumblebees, butterflies (including the regal fritillaries, monarchs, swallowtails and skippers – according to Xerxes Society). Moths, soldier beetles and a variety of other insects also frequent these plants. The seeds are important food for songbirds.

Flowers: Not many flowers per plant. Flowers are 1-2″ wide. Flower bracts are longer than they are wide.

Leaves: The leaves are deeply lobed and have soft white wool on the undersides and soft spines. Leaf attachment is alternate. Most native thistles are less viciously prickly than non-native thistles and have soft, white undersides to their leaves.

More information: USDA plant profile