Native Plants

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Thursday - October 14, 2010

From: Lubbock, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Propagation
Title: Propagation of Liatris elegans in Lubbock TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I am going to harvest several Liatris Elegans.I want to grow as many as possible out of what I harvest. What will be the best method? I have plenty of land at my home for growing these plants.I will dig them up this weekend and put them in 1-2 gallon pots in their native soil till I know what needs to be done to maximize the number of plants I can grow from 1-2 dozen I intend to harvest.

ANSWER:

The Liatris are blooming right now in the Gardens of the Lady Bird Wildflower Center and are beautiful, especially at this time of year when many wildlflowers are dormant. We found an excellent article on propagation of Liatris and it specifically mentioned Liatris elegans (Blazing star). This article, from Gardening-Tips-Perennials.com gives very specific instructions. Of course, you could wait until the seeds ripened on the plant, but this particular author said division was his preference.

We suggest you read this article from Virginia State University Cooperative Extension Propagation by Cuttings, Layering and Division for more complete information. And you still might try some seeds!

From the Image Gallery

Pink-scale blazing star
Liatris elegans