Are you sure you have liatris seedlings? I'm only asking because what you are describing sounds alot like nut sedge. I've never had a liatris seedling so I can't comment on what it should look like. But I sure have had nut sedge and it is exactly as you describe. Grassy leaves and when you pull it it has a bulb on the bottom.

Well, gee, I dunno. LOL. I looked at a bunch of pictures of nutsedge and they are very similiar. It has been awhile since I tried to embed a photo but...

[IMG]http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i252/delightp/liatrisseedling.jpg[/IMG]

hopefully its the IMG tag that I need. Thats one of the babies, but he had an older sister that had a kind of a flower bud on at the top. Smallish for making flowers I would think, but it could be the beginnings of the more upright stems. You know how they have the grassy bits then the plant starts taking a more vertical turn. Does that make any sense?

The photo here is wilted because it was the only one that I could find that had something other than grassy bits. I had to dig thru my weedings to find it.

[IMG]http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i252/delightp/liatrisseedling2.jpg[/IMG]

Only thing I can think to do is next year let them grow and see what happens.

If the photo's do not work I'll go play in the test area. Couldn't find directions and as I said its been a Looong time since I did a picture.

Pic 1

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pic 2

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Second pic is not resized smaller so you can see the more vertical thing I was talking about.

I can't really tell from your photos! Maybe someone else can help out. Last year I thought that I had daylily babies....only to find out that it was nut sedge! What I had looked like your photo #1 but your photo is kind of dark so I can't really be sure.

its not dark thats my shadow. :-) I probably should not have shrunk it down. I'll just try to leave them go next year and see what I end up with.

I get Liatris ÂSpicata seedlings like crazy every year and all spring/summer long from seed that drops and blows around the gardens. I have lots of new clumps at home; up at the lake, my sisters, neighbors and everywhere else I can put them. I don't believe Pic 2 is a liatris. A seedling will grow a longated pointed leaf out of the center of two little round leafs. As more leafs grow they will be long and pointed and grow from same area as the first. Once the stem gets a bit taller leafs will start growing from a section a bit further up the stem. Leafs will be together(symmetrically up the stem) for each group of leafs up the stem. Leafs are not alternately placed along the stem.

Here is a pic of new seedling w/bulb; a few stray seedlings, and a clump of seedlings that I put together and are starting there second full summer(will get bloom this year!!).

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I had tons of Liatris seedlings this year & yes, they are liatris. I've been pulling them because I don't want a ton of liatris in that bed. I let a few grow bigger so I could transplant them to fill in where some didn't come back from when I moved the original bunch.

I wish I would have dug up the liatris I had in a previous house. Those things were over 6 ft tall in the shade! All the ones I see & have now only get a few feet tall. I have one now that is almost 4 ft., but the others are about a foot shorter.

Yes they look like liatris seedlings to me. I was out spraying Roundup and sprayed a bunch of them that were about a foot away from a clump of liatris. Found the same thing in another bed that has liatris. After the third bed, it dawned on me that they looked exactly like the liatris, only miniature. Duh! But I had already killed a bunch of them. I wouldn't mind having more liatris, so next year I'll know what to look for. Last spring was when I planted the liatris, so I didn't know what the seedlings looked like.

Deanna

Good to know that they will bloom! I just transplanted a bunch of them into a new area. I hope they resemble the parent plant. Anyone know how long it takes before these seedlings bloom?
Thanks,
Sarah

Oh, I just re-read SandyGarden's post... blooms end of second full summer? Wow... very fast maturer! Should have LOTS of liatris end of next year :)))
S.