Boneset

Eupatorium perfoliatum

Boneset is one of August's essential native perennials for moist sites. The flat-topped clusters of tiny white flowers carry above distinctive perfoliate leaves -- the stem appears to pierce through the leaf itself, a distinctive feature that identifies this plant immediately in the field. On warm August mornings, the flowers are covered with a constant rotation of monarch butterflies, native bees, and wasps working the open nectar supply. At four to five feet in moist soil, it has real presence in the back of a rain garden or at the margin of a wet meadow. The foliage is bold and coarse-textured, a visual contrast to finer-leaved companions. The strong bitterness of the leaves makes it completely unpalatable to deer. An ecologically essential, utterly reliable plant for wet conditions.