I grew a number of purple meadow-rue from seed in 2024 with seed I purchased from Toadshade Wildflower Farms. Most of them were planted out, and a few given away to friends, with a good bit of them overwintered in pots. Unfortunately only a quarter of them survived in the pots. Until I obtain more seeds to grow them for next year (hopefully from my own population), these few are it.

Just like the commonly planted early meadow-rue, these plants are dioecious. I have no idea which one’s which. I think both the male and female plants are beautiful. If you look at the two photos I shared here, you can see the genetic diversity in the leaf color.

beautiful, ethereal appearance

Ranunculaceae are among some of my favorite native plants. They have such delicate, lacey foliage which seems to glow on a misty cloudy day. When everything looks dull and grey, the glaucous leaves absolutely pop. Purple meadow-rue adds to this ethereal appearance with its smooth purple stems. These plants seem like they belong in a fantasy novel based in a fairly land in another world.

Belying its initial delicate impression, purple meadow-rue is capable of growing to absolutely massive proportions. It easily stands flowerhead to flowerhead with Joe Pye. Do not be fooled by those tiny plants in the pots; they’re just getting started. They wake up and get growing early because they need to reach around 6ft tall by late spring.

where to plant purple meadow-rue

I’ve seen photos of these planted in full sun, but this does well in part sun to light shade. We have plenty of robust sun-loving plants that will try to steal the show. The more open, delicate structure of the purple meadow-rue’s leaves would likely be lost in the lush greenery of sunny locations. I think these look good against walls and fences on sites that don’t tend to dry out too quickly, somewhere with a solid background that can showcase the leaves. They also look great along woodland edges, providing a lacy screen-like effect to the shady landscape beyond. Ideally, they seem to prefer a dappled shade, though they can tolerate full sun.

Since purple meadow-rue grows in floodplains, wet meadows, and along streambanks, make sure that it gets plenty of moisture during the active growing season. At the same time, as with all plants, wet roots doesn’t mean wet crowns, so don’t bury them. Don’t crowd this one too much, either – good air circulation helps to avoid powdery mildew (which in our climate is sometimes unavoidable).

benefit to habitat

Thalictrum dasycarpum is not a keystone species, but it does host at least 15 different species of butterfly and moth caterpillars, including the Canadian owlet. Our native sweatbees utilize the pollen of staminate (male) flowers, and other insects have also been observed foraging on the plant. I’ve personally observed hoverflies enjoying and even fighting over the flowers. The female flowers do not provide any nectar reward. Seeds are favored by birds.

All four of the ones in the shop have bloomed and appear to be male (staminate) plants. This means they will feed, but not re-seed. They are the showier of the two. If you’re in need of a male purplestem meadowrue or just want singular plants that will feed pollinators without worrying about it re-seeding in the garden, these should be “safe.”

how do they cross-pollinate if the female plants do not attract pollinators

These flowers are wind-pollinated, much like grasses. While insects do consume the pollen from male plants, this is purely for food and not a pollination mechanism. If you have multiple plants, male and female, you’d want to plant them close enough to one another so that the pollen can reach the female flowers.