My understanding is that they are supposed to be deer resistant.

Thanks to all for the replies! Got to get me some white ones!

I love them.

They survived the deer but NOT the rabbits and/or groundhogs who pulled down flower spikes long before bloom and ate most of them. They've even started eating the foliage now.

I've got 4 and 1/2 flower spikes left and a couple are just starting to bloom.

Had 2 Liatris Ligulistylis that had black spot soon after they arrived mail order and they didn't survive more than a month. Really bummed about those. Could get more from farm nursery not too far from here but why provide more food for rabbits and groundhogs.

Just chased rabbit out of yard, went to check butterfly garden and he/she again chewed top leaves off Zinnia.

Everyone enjoy their liatris...they're beautiful and I appreciate seeing pics of them in other people's gardens.

Thanks.

Close up!

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THAT DOES IT!!! I'll be visiting the nursery tomorrow...

I love them too. I had some in the garden, and started more from seed last year. I love the purple ones, and I love the way they are so versatile.

Tracey, I was just thinking today that what my coneflowers need is some liatris! Nice pic. Well, actually, nice pics from everyone. Thanks!

:)
Dee

LOL! You girls are killing me! LOL! Blame me for your spending habits!

Glad to help remind you all of these great plants!

tommyr; that closeup shot is simply gorgeous!
After looking at my pics, I definitely have the color scheme all wrong. With my purple liatris are purple coneflowers and a purple buddleia. And just of to the left of that bed is a purple vitex. It was actually initially my "holding bed", only I never got around to moving things. I might have to do that soon though. With my white liatris I have pink milkweed, white gaura and I believe that oriental lily is white. And, just off to the left is, guess what, a white buddleia. Wow, I really do suck and can't plan, can I?!?!? They'd definitely be better reversed IMO, but then again, I hate perfectly planned beds, LOL...

Tracey,
I do NOT plan at all! I put things were ever I think I want them. EXPERIMENT! That's the best way! Try different things! Don't worry what others think!

I have several clumps of both white and purple and am surprised to read here that some have lost their plants. I am constantly giving some away so the division might be why I've never lost any. They also readily reseed in the gardens and some years I pull out as many as I do weeds.

The deers pass right by mine and head for the Asiatic Lilies next to them. I was thinking of removing the Lilies, but now that some folks have mentioned the Liatris being eaten by the deers, maybe I'll just leave the lilies there so they will bypass the Liatris. :O)

Very nice pictures! Liatris is not one of my favorites, but it is very pretty, and the butterflies love it. I winter-sowed 2 types, Liatris pychnostachya (looks like L. spicata) and L. ligulistylis. Liatris ligulistylis (common name - Meadow Blazing star) has button-type flowers, not spikes, and is supposed to be a top plant to attract Monarchs to nectar in late summer. These plants are babies though, it will probably be at least until next year that they bloom. So we'll see if the butterflies go as crazy as people say.

My new liatris has black leaves. What happened? If I cut those spikes down, will it regrow new ones? If so, this year or next? My seven yro son picked this one out, I don't want to disappoint him, not sure how to deadhead either. Thanks!

Not sure what's causing the black leaves. Could it be a fungus?

If you cut the spike down I don't think it will grow another this year, next year yes.

I purchased a white Liatris last year and this year it had half a dozen flower spikes ready to bloom...deer ate the tops and halfway down the stems(sigh).

Tracey, I think your liatris look great with the coneflowers. After all, "purple" coneflowers really are more pink, and what goes better in the garden than pink and purple?

I had to laugh though - I've got a couple of those "holding" beds too, the kind where they end up holding the plants you planted "temporarily" for several years, lol.

:)
Dee

Prairiegirl, it sounds like a fungus. I use an organic copper-based fungicide for fungus and mildew that is sold by Gardens Alive. This Spring has been really bad in that regard, and I've had a lot of die back on the Phlox and Monarda and others.

If your plant doesn't rebound, you could cut it back and transplant it to another location, where it will probably re-establish itself for the rest of the season, and then maybe buy another one at the nursery to replace it without your son knowing? That way he wouldn't be disappointed.

I have some that I planted in a bed out front, but they've been engulfed by the hostas. I keep meaning to move them but still haven't got around to it. Do you think I can move them after they flower, or should I wait till next spring?

I do it in the fall. Early-mid fall. I have to divide and transplant some this fall myself.

Deer herds in different areas try different plants. I had liatris (because they were supposed to be resistant) at my previous home and just as soon as they bloomed, the blooms were gone. Either the rabbits had stepladders, a thief cut them, or the deer ate them! LOL After that, I've not tried them again.

Cameron

Thank terrene~It's not too bad, so I just zipped off the leaves that were dried. I don't think he'll notice, it's just one, the others are fine. The monarda & phlox I bought from the same grower are fine. No blooms on the bee balm, but it has doubled in size. Same place where sedum came from last year, they all died, so I'll keep an eye out. Do you deadhead liatris?

You can dead head if you want. Or leave the flowers for the birds to eat. It'll also self sow leaving the flowers on. It's all up to you!

Dee, when you're right, you're right. Purple coneflowers never looked purple to me anyway. Guess it's all in my head.

Funny, this is one plant that the woodchuck never touched, and I have the best rabbits, who don't touch any of my plants. I'll be knocking wood until my knuckles bleed, thankyouverymuch ;)

I normally deadhead mine, why, I don't know. I'm surely not a neat & tidy gardener & normally leave things up for the birds anyway. Plus, they really don't reseed for me, unless you intentionally remove some of the seed; they pretty much stay put.

I haven't had liatris for a couple of years, either. I was visiting The Oregon Garden today and coveting some. Those pictures are just beautiful. I used to love to get up in thr morning to inspect my garden, and it is so fun to find the bees asleep on the liatris--so groggy and lazy that you can tickle them and all they do is just stretch their arms. It's like they have fallen asleep at mother's breast--so funny!

Okay, here's a question - do you say LI-a-tris, or li-AT-tris?

:)
Dee

I say it - Lee AT Tris.

I buy a bag of 50 bulbs or roots at Walmart in the spring, and by this time in the summer have 50 huge blooming plants. Cost is under $7, what a buy!

I got some liatris bulbs, and the instructions said to plant them 4-5 bulbs per square foot, so I did. But those plants look really big! Did I goof?

Deanna

Howdy,
Thought you guys might enjoy another closeup picture. Last year I planted 20 bulbs and was disappointed when only 1 came up. I guess the old "first year they sleep" bit is true enough. This year I had 13 plants come up.
BTG
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Deanna,
You'll be fine. I would have gave them a little more room though.

First year growing my purple Liatris, and I DOOO love em!!! I bought a box (5 in box) in the local super market... because it said good in part shade and I was looking for a 'filler'... I think Liatris has a perma-home in my yard... next year I'm getting more!

BTW I'm in zone 6 do I have to dig'em up for the winter?

-p

I'm in zone 6, no you do NOT have to dig them up! They multiply nicely too by the way!

Ahhh, Liatris. I have visitors that come to my garden frequently that absolutely are enamored, and obsessed with my liatris. Sadly, those visitors are voles! LOL! Those little buggers ravage the bulbs every year. I don't know why I continue to plant them. I might as well just ring the dinner-bell!

That STINKS. Plant some daffodils or crown Imperials around them. It's said that they don't like the smell of those.

Well I ended up deadheading and removing a good chunk of foliage on one, leaving one alone (healthy foliage and pretty dried flower spikes), and discarding one that got really bad, leaves and all turned black. I'm never going to buy another plant from that grrr-grower, LOL. Keep your fingers crossed that mine multiply. I planted mine with White Swan coneflower, gaura, Russian sage and salvia.

I love Liatrus...I have another mass of these in another spot, too. Had them for three yrs now and they do self seed...
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Juanita

When I was a florist I loved Lee AT Tris :) because it has fabulous form, color and lasts really long but in my garden I'm not a fan. I barely blooms a week for me.

Juanita,
Simply GORGEOUS!

Buyorsell,
That is strange. Mine last a few weeks at least. Are you feeding them? How much Sun do they get?

I love the closeup pics. I may have to move some of my leeATTris over to my black eyed susans. That's a nice combo.

Some voles made a mess over the winter of my bed with liatris. I think I only have one clump left. BUt I did get a couple of seedlings. That was a first!

Here's an old picture of it:

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These shots are why I can't live with out LEE AT RIS, LOL...

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Even now that it's ratty (same plant as in my first post on 07/12-waaaaaahhh), and I normally just leave up the seed heads until about November, I caught these goldfinches going to town on them. I wonder if they'll leave me any seed to harvest; I have LOADS of goldfinches...
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tracey~Great pics, thanks for sharing! :0)

A friend is giving me another li-AT-ris. I will leave the spikes up for the birds. I hope we have goldfinches around here.

I notice you have bumble bees too. Do you have honey bees? Even on my agastache, I haven't seen a one this year.

I like Liatris, but a care question...can you dehead Liatris? Mine has finished flowering and I don't like the spikes alone.

Carlos

Sure you can dead head them. I wait until fall to give the birds something to eat.

Heh,

Pigeons don't like seed. The only 'real' birds in my neighborhood are wrens and chickadees, both never stop by to chow down. The bumblebees have a blast though.

Carlos

Well, now that they've bloomed, my liatris were a bit disappointing. The blooms didn't seem to last too long this year, and the stems were... well, not flopping, but... curved, I guess is the best way to describe them. Oh well, maybe next year will be better. I still intend to add more to my garden.

And I'm glad to see so many people saying "li-AT-tris", because it seems everyone I've talked to around here says "LI-a-tris" and I was feeling the odd man out, lol!

:)
Dee

I thought it was "lee-AY-tris"...

OMG! We should so start a new thread on this subject. For example, I say Clem-A-tis, but most gardening magazines and websites I've seen, say it should be CLEM-a-tis. And then there's agastache...and weigela, and fothergilla. It might be entertaining, possibly even educational? :)

diggerdee~ My plants did that curvey thing too. But they were in bloom in June when I planted them. Were they forced to bloom in the greenhouse, or do some bloom earlier than others? Mine are 'Kobold', I don't mean cultivars, I mean individual plants.

PrairieGirl, that would be a fun thread indeed!

I grew some of mine from seed, and others... well, I don't remember exactly where I got them. I think I may have transplanted them from an original clump a few years ago (said original clump failed to come up this year, surprisingly) and I think I bought those original ones as bulbs many years ago. I do think they were Kobold, and the seeds I planted were Kobold also.

I figured the curvey thing was because they were in an overcrowded bed and didn't get much attention (weeding, water, etc.). I'm hoping since I have moved a few things that next year they will stand straight and tall.

:)
Dee

Same here @juanital: I think it was my very first perennial!

another view of liatrus