Description

Key Information:

Soil: Mesic (Medium) – Xeric (Dry)
Sun: Full Sun
Height: 1-3 feet
Bloom Color: Purple
Bloom Season: July – September
*Salt tolerant*

More Details:

Suggested Uses: Like the White Prairie Clover, Purple Prairie Clover has a vase-shape but the leaves have a finer texture and the flowers are purple or magenta. The plants grow well on sandy, gravelly soils as well as in typical garden soils. Also a great option for heavy clay soils. Beautiful in bouquets! Very attractive to butterflies and bees. Rabbits will browse on this legume.

Native Range: Native to the Great Plains and parts of the Midwest. Native throughout the state of Minnesota.

Pollinators: Bees!  Including the federally endangered Rusty Patched Bumble Bee. It is a host plant for the Dog Face Butterfly.  Prairie clovers are also an important nectar source for adult monarch butterflies.

Flowers: The flowers grow in 0.5-1″ long cylindrical spikes and bloom in a ring around the spike. The individual flowers are 1/6″ long with one main heart-shaped petal and 4 narrow petal-like structures.

Leaves: The sparse leaves are divided into 3-7 leaflets each 1/2″ – 3/4″ long.

More information: USDA plant profile