Are you looking for a plant to add a bold splash of color and drama to your summer garden? Look no further than Blazing Star!
Liatris Spicata, commonly known as Blazing Star, is a very versatile and easy-to-grow ornamental plant that looks amazing in any garden. This flower can decorate any type of garden with its attractive blooms. Its green foliage keeps its colours throughout the growing season and turns into a rich bronze colour in the fall, making it even more attractive.
Thanks to its long-lasting feathery flowers of bright, bold colors, Blazing Star makes an excellent ornamental plant too. It is often displayed in flower bouquets as well. Another great thing to know about Blazing Star is that it has a fantastic ability to attract all sorts of pollinating insects, including butterflies, bees, monarchs, and swallowtails.
The best part of having this flower in your garden is that it is really easy to care for it. They can grow nearly anywhere, whether beds, borders, or even containers. What’s more, they are relatively pest-resistant.
Ready to learn more about how to grow and care for Blazing Star? Keep reading below!
About Blazing Star
- Liatris belongs to the family of Asteraceae, also known as Compositae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and trees. Asteraceae is one of the biggest plant families that exist.
- The botanical of the Blazing Star is Liatris Spicata, a name that refers to the shape of the floral array, “spike bearing.” Another popular name for Blazing Star is Gayfeather.
- Liatris Spicata is native to North America, Canada, the United States, Mexico, and the Bahamas.
- Blazing Stars look fantastic in gardens, thanks to their bright purple colour. You can combine your Blazing Stars with other plants that have a finer texture, such as ornamental grasses, and with plants that produce colourful blooms such as Asters, Coneflowers, Coreopsis, Helenium, and Rudbeckia.
- Blazing Stars also look amazing as cut flowers if you want to bring them inside your home or use them in flower arrangements, both fresh and dry.
- These flowers are sun-loving, meaning they love to grow in full sun. However, some can also take a little shade. It’s best to plant Blazing Stars in a sunny spot of your garden where they get full sun the entire day.
- In terms of soil preferences, Liatris Spicata prefers just about any soil, at any level of fertility. This flower can successfully grow no matter how rich the soil is but prefers a slightly acid to neutral soil pH. Yet, one essential thing to know is that the soil needs to be well-draining to prevent root rot.
- Blazing Stars are also resistant to drought, thanks to their deep root system that allows surrounding soils to absorb and retain water for periods of drought.
- When it comes to water needs, these flowers don’t need too much watering. In fact, overwatering might kill them. Blazing Stars are flowers that typically thrive in harsh prairie environments. After the first few months, once the plant emerges, your Blazing Stars will need little attention in terms of watering.
- Blazing Stars are nearly immune to all insects and pests. However, these flowers are susceptible to root rot and other fungal diseases, like leaf spots and rusts, if kept in extremely moist soil. To protect your Liatris flowers from these problems, plant them where they can get good air circulation and enough sunlight exposure.
Blazing Star Features: An Overview
- Blazing Star is a herbaceous perennial that looks very exotic. This flower features long-lasting spikes with deep magenta-coloured bottle-brush flowers and strappy green leaves.
- When reaching maturity, Blazing Star can grow up to 2 to 4 feet (60-120 cm) in height. Rarely, the plant can even reach heights of 6 feet (180 cm).
- The flowers of Blazing Star have no fragrance. The blooms are typically purple, but there are also white and rose-coloured varieties. Blazing Star blooms in late summer, from July to August.
- Liatris Spicata isn’t considered toxic to humans or pets. So, you don’t have to worry about planning your Blazing Stars away from your pets’ and kids’ reach. It is also safe to bring these plants indoors as cut flowers.
Growing Blazing Star
Growing and caring for Blazing Stars is a piece of cake. These flowers are very resistant to many threats that the average garden plant is sensitive to. They can survive periods of drought. They can grow in pretty much all soil types, as long as good drainage is ensured. Plus, very few pests and diseases can bother them, besides those already mentioned.
As long as you provide them with their basic growing needs, caring for Blazing Stars won’t give you any headaches. Because they are low-maintenance and resistant to many threats, both novice and experienced gardeners will find it really easy to grow these lovely plants in their gardens.
First, it’s essential to keep in mind that these flowers love growing in full sun. In fact, they need at least 6 hours of full sun daily to grow and bloom. Some varieties can also adapt to partial shade. However, it is best to plant and grow your Blazing Stars in full sun also to protect them from fungal diseases. If you can find a spot in your garden that is sunny most of the day, your Liatris Spicata flowers will be pleased.
Fertilizing your Blazing Stars is another trick to help your flowers grow happy and healthy. Although these flowers are not heavy feeders, especially since they can grow even in less-rich soil, some balanced flower fertilizers can make them really happy. We recommend applying fertilizer once a year, during spring, as that is the time of the year when active growth begins.
Light pruning is also necessary to help your Blazing Star flowers stay happy and healthy. Plus, this also stimulates more vigorous growth in the following season. We recommend pruning your Liatris flowers in the fall when the plants have stopped blooming, and all their blossoms on their flower spikes have faded.
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Planting Blazing Star
Planting Blazing Stars in your garden is just as easy as it is to care for these flowers. You need to keep in mind just a few things to ensure successful planting.
Blazing Stars can be grown from corms and seeds. However, growing from corms is the most common way of getting these adorable purple beauties in your garden.
When planting Blazing Star corms, plant them in early spring and make sure that you space them about 12 to 15 inches (30-38 cm) apart. This will give each plant enough space to grow. What’s more, make sure that you plant the corms about 2-inches (5-10 cm) deep.
One essential thing to know about planting Liatris corms is that these flowers usually bloom the same year they are planted. So, keep in mind that the planting to bloom time of Blazing Star flowers is about 70-90 days.
When growing your Blazing Stars from seeds, expect the plant to start blooming the following year. You can start your plants from seeds both indoors and outdoors. If sowing your seeds outdoors, wait for the fall or even early winter to do it. This often leads to the best results because the seeds need to be exposed to cold and moist conditions.
Keep in mind that you also need to find the right spot to plant your Liatris flowers. These flowers need to be planted in an area of your garden where they get full sun most of the day, good air circulation, and well-draining soil.
Watering Blazing Star
It is essential to know just how much water to give your Blazing Stars and how to do it.
Blazing Stars are very susceptible to root rot if they sit in too much water. And, this is a sure way to kill your Liatris. In contrast, they don’t mind periods of drought that much because, as mentioned above, their long root system provides enough water in periods of drought. So, it’s best to underwater your Liatris flowers than to overwater them.
To make sure that you don’t overwater your Blazing Stars, we recommend using the “soak and dry” watering method, meaning that you should only water your flowers when the first top inches of the soil is completely dry.
After planting, water the corms thoroughly. Once the plant emerges, apply water to the base of the flower, or you can use drip irrigation. Watering your Blazing Stars these ways is essential to avoid fungal disease spread.
Propagating Blazing Star
If you want more Blazing Stars in your outdoor space, which you should because they look great when planted en masse, the good news is that propagation is an easy process as well when it comes to these flowers.
More Liatris Spicata flowers can be obtained by dividing the plants every few years in spring. Use a sharp knife to cut tuberous roots into sections. Plant these sections in a new space immediately and leave about a foot apart to allow good air circulation.
You can also propagate your Blazing Stars via seeds. As mentioned above in the planting section, sow seeds outside in the fall or early winter.
In Conclusion
Blazing Star flowers are a joy to have in your outdoor space. They fill your garden with bright colors and attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies, which your other garden plants will benefit from too. Besides beautifully decorating your garden, Liatris Spicata flowers can also do the same for your home, as they are amazing cut flowers you can use in floral arrangements.
Caring for Blazing Stars is really easy as these flowers are resistant to several threats specific to garden plants, like drought or common pests. What’s more, they only require a lot of sunlight, well-draining soil, and some water from time to time to grow happy and healthy.
2 Comments
Select a sunny spot in your garden with well-draining soil. Liatris prefers full sun to light shade.
outstanding article about blazing star. I have had about five years experience with this plant and love it. Yet I still learned a lot from your well written document. I will put the print out in my reference binder. Thanks!