WANTED: Common Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata)

karyn1

11 years ago

Sent you an email

royalpalmfarmer

11 years ago

do you have your ironweed yet. It grows everywhere in the cincinnati area where I live. Do you want rootstock also?

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Dang!!!! I just took an inventory of all my stored seeds!

Q

Comments (11)

Fantastic list of seeds! I think it is just great that you have focused your life on nature at such a young age. I too would love to have 10 (maybe 5) acres someday to plant a wonderland of natives plants, and am already doing that on 1.25 acres. Difference is, my interest didn't come into sharp focus until age 45. :) There are quite a few seeds on this list I am interested in, and I checked your want list and I have a few on that list. Maybe we can do a trade this fall? Just a note - on your want list is Cynanchum louiseae - this is an extremely invasive non-native vine that is becoming a serious problem in the Northeast US. And it has the additional problem that Monarch butterflies will "sense" it is in the Milkweed family, lay eggs on it, and then it will kill the caterpillars because it is toxic to Monarch larvae.

Ironweed (should I spray it)

Q

Comments (13)

Doctorant said it best! May I add that before you destroy any native plantings maybe it would be good to see if anyone else would love to have them. I know many in Zone 5 Indiana who would be very anxious to take them off your hands if you want to kill them. That includes me. It is so vibrant and really attracts the butterflies like crazy. If in a very moist and fertile enviorment you can get them to reach 8 feet tall. Their root system really gets thick and the plant does a great job of "grounding itself in". It really holds up the large flower heads it produces. The stems are so strong that you can cut them down in the fall and use them to stake up some of your other tall growers that need staking. Enjoy them for all the benefits they have to offer to our Indiana meadows.

Vernonia, a Wildflower

Q

Comments (14)

I am keeping this thread alive and kicking because I have really become a "believer" - but a permanently humbled one - about vernonia. This is one tough plant! You might like to grow this, but beware that it might do "too well." I successfully dug up and transplanted the volunteer "monster returned" that was out by our front curb. (That took some DEEP digging!) It barely showed a temporary droop in its new spot, which should be perfect for it: ample though not all-day full sun, clay soil that gets swamped now and then, right next to the wall (corner) of a raised bed. From that one mother plant, I had the opportunity to root several offshoots, but elected not to. I am proceeding VERY cautiously with using this plant in our gardens. I already have rooted one of the earliest offshoots that I pulled by hand, and currently keep that in a small pot. I'll be planting that one soon. I intend to make that one propagated specimen my "guinea pig" as far as trying a pinching technique, like can be done with chrysanthemums, to control shape and size and to observe whether there is a resultant increase in bloom density (but our volunteer last year had amazing bloom density all on its own). I will leave the transplanted mother plant alone, as far as pinching is concerned, and just see how differently (if at all) it branches and blooms on its own in its second year. Next, I will take one or two branches off of both the mother plant and the newly rooted plant, and see if they will root as "cuttings." I will stay undecided for now as to whether I will plant them, if they do root. I might just keep them in pots like I originally intended with that one I have already rooted. So far, none of the enormous number of seeds that came from last year's plant have sprouted. So I am getting the impression that vernonia is extremely picky about where it sprouts, but once established, is reliable, even scary-tough. Now...as long as my memory (and computer) doesn't fail me, I'll report back if and when there is something more to say. This "playing"-with-lesser-known wildflowers has become my most fun gardening activity!

Extreme Climate Winter Sowing......the HOT zones: 8, 9, and 10 (nati

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ruthz
Original Author

11 years ago

I do already have ironweed seeds coming my way, but thank you royalpalmfarmer for offering.

WANTED: Common Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata)

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karyn1

royalpalmfarmer

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WANTED: Common Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata)

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karyn1

royalpalmfarmer

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