Your wish for a beautiful native garden is granted with this shooting star!
Just like the celestial event that shares its common name, the amethyst blooms tower above the leafy rosettes on the ground, seemingly ready to strike. However, unlike the shooting stars of the sky, the blooms last far longer on this spring ephemeral.
These have a much smaller range than midland shooting stars with equally limited habitat. Although they grow in steep rocky habitats, they adapt well to organically rich, loamy garden soil. Keeping the soil cool and moist is the key factor in cultivating this species. You can easily achieve this with the use of natural organic mulch, like leaf mold, leaf litter and arborist chips.
Cool Eco-Facts
The this flower is buzz-pollinated typically by queen bumblebees. If you’d like to see all of the other buzz-pollinated plants, check out my MagiK Picks category Give Me A Buzz. Other bees seen visiting this flower include digger bees (Anthophorini tribe), long-horned bees (Melissodes spp.) and green metallic sweat bees (Augochlorella spp., Augochloropsis spp.). These bees collect pollen, since the flowers of Dodecatheon spp. do not produce nectar. As a spring bloomer, this is an early food source for our native bees.
For those concerned about taxa:
Is it Primula or Dodecatheon? BONAP lists this as Dodecatheon, but ITIS has it listed as Primula. This is one of those taxa that seems to be contested, use whatever makes sense to you. D. amethystinum being a separate species from D. meadia as opposed to a variation is also up for debate. The synonym for this species, as listed on NatureServe, is Primula fassettii
Amethyst shooting star
As suggested by the common name, this flower has notably amethyst-colored flowers. Midland shooting star also can have similarly colored flowers, but there’s a bit more variation from pink to white. What’s listed is all I’ve got of this one, so first come, first served.
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