A beautiful, spiky addition to prairies or meadows

Liatris, a uniquely shaped plant, is becoming more popular with gardeners for perennial, meadow and prairie gardens. The thistlelike reddish-purple flowers are borne in clusters along tall spikes, somewhat resembling bottlebrushes. The flowers open from the top down, rather than the opposite, as with most spike plants. The rounded clump of rich dark green foliage is grassy-looking at the base of the flower spikes; the flower spikes have smaller leaves all the way up to the tip. Use Liatris as an accent in the formal garden, or plant it in wet meadows or at marsh edges. It is one of the best plants for butterfuly gardens .