Dwarf Blazing Star

Liatris microcephala

Dwarf Blazing Star is the compact, rock-garden Liatris. native to the rocky cedar barrens and outcrops of the southern Appalachians, where it has adapted to grow in the thinnest, driest soils imaginable. The slender spikes carry small but numerous rose-purple flower heads in late summer, and despite the 'dwarf' designation, a well-established clump is genuinely showy. Monarchs and fritillaries use it readily during migration. Its compact stature makes it uniquely useful at the front of a border or tucked into a rock garden where the larger Liatris species would overwhelm the space. It naturalizes slowly but surely in well-drained sunny sites, gradually forming the small colonies that typify it in the wild. An underappreciated Appalachian native that earns a place in any dry, sunny garden.