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Here's a plant that tickles your lips when you say the
name.
ZZZZZZZZZZZizia aurea. While most
Umbellifers, or
plants in what was the Umbelliferae family, now known
as the Apiaceae
family, are either biennial or
monocarpic, here's a long lived
perennial that's native to the Eastern US. One of
three species resident
in these mountains, I grow Zizia aurea
in several different
areas in my garden. In the wild, it grows in
rich, moist
woods, open meadows and on riverbanks. In the
garden, it grows and
flowers equally well in full sun or full shade.
The
dark green,
glossy, dissected foliage is a perfect foil for the
long lasting,
brilliant yellow umbels of flowers that persist for weeks
in late Spring to
early Summer. Plants are 12"-24" tall and form a nice
tight clump about
12" in diameter.
Propagation is easy by division or
by seed, which
is set in abundance.
Since it's a zone 5
native, I'd venture to say
that it's probably hardy to zone 4 and as far as heat
tolerance goes, who
knows. Hortus Third says that it occurs from New
Brunswick Canada to
Florida and West to Texas. Wow that's more than half
the country!
I'd suggest that the further South you are, the more
shade it would
prefer, along with a bit of water and mulch in dry
times which goes a long
way.
By the way, the common name is "Golden
Alexanders", and of the
other two species, Zizia aptera, and Zizia
trifoliata,
I grow Zizia aptera which has large round
leaves. I can't
recall what the flowers are like on this species, but
I remember that they
weren't as showy as Zizia aurea.
Does the
phrase "Idiot Proof"
come to mind?
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