Culver's Root
Veronicastrum virginicum
Culver's root builds a tall candelabra: whorls of narrow leaves ring the stem at intervals, and from the top a cluster of slender white spires rises like a branched candlestick with the central one longest. It stands four to seven feet without staking, rare at that height, and the winter silhouette of bare stems and seed spikes is one of the better ones in a prairie planting. The flowers are small and packed tight, and each spike opens from the bottom upward over two or three weeks, keeping a long steady stream of small bees and syrphid flies on it. It is slow to establish from a small plant but very long-lived once its roots are down, and it never runs. Give it consistent moisture and full sun; in shade it leans badly toward the light and needs propping.
- Family
- Plantaginaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 4–7 ft
- Spacing
- 2–4 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, alkaline, neutral
- Bloom
- July, August, September
- Bloom colors
- white, pink, blue
- Wildlife value
- butterflies, pollinators
- Landscape uses
- naturalizing, rain garden
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV