Spiked speedwell

Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

Arizona Mountains forests

Atlantic coastal pine barrens

Blue Mountains forests

Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

Central Tallgrass prairie

Central-Southern Cascades Forests

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Moderate water

Spacing

24"

Habit

Upright, clump-forming herbaceous perennial: a low mound of narrow, toothed leaves from which dense, tapering flower spikes rise in summer

Care tips

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Plant it in full sun in soil that drains freely: root rot in wet soil, especially over winter, is the problem NC State Extension and the Missouri Botanical Garden both name.

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Water it in dry spells, since the Missouri Botanical Garden says its shallow roots make it generally intolerant of dry soil.

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Remove spent spikes for more flowers, or shear it back to the basal leaves after the first bloom for more flowers in fall, as NC State Extension suggests.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant it in full sun in average, well-drained soil that stays evenly moist. NC State Extension asks for moist, well-drained soil high in organic matter, and the Missouri Botanical Garden says it does best with consistent moisture together with sharp drainage, particularly in winter, and that it tolerates light shade. The RHS lists chalk, clay, loam and sand at acid, neutral or alkaline pH, in an exposed or a sheltered spot. Space plants about 24 inches apart, the narrow end of the spread NC State and the Missouri Botanical Garden give.

Transplanting

None of the sources here gives a time or a method for moving or dividing it. The Missouri Botanical Garden notes that the roots are shallow and dislike dry soil, so keep a moved plant watered until it settles.

Early growth

Keep the soil evenly moist while it settles in: the Missouri Botanical Garden says the roots are shallow and the plant is generally intolerant of dry soil, although the RHS rates it as drought resistant. Avoid ground that stays wet, especially in winter, where NC State Extension and the Missouri Botanical Garden both warn of root rot.

Maturity

NC State Extension and the Missouri Botanical Garden both give 2 to 3 feet tall in flower and 24 to 30 inches wide, with the spikes rising well above the leaves; the RHS gives a height of about 24 inches in its description and a spread of 4 to 20 inches, and Wikipedia 1 to 3 feet tall. NC State rates its maintenance as low. Remove spent spikes to encourage more flowers, as the Missouri Botanical Garden advises, or shear the plant back to its basal leaves after flowering, which NC State says can bring more flowers in fall. The Missouri Botanical Garden reports no serious insect or disease problems beyond root rot in wet soil; the RHS lists aphids, downy mildew, fungal leaf spot, fungal rots, Phytophthora and occasionally honey fungus. NC State and the Missouri Botanical Garden both list it as resistant to deer and rabbits.

Propagation

The RHS gives seed as the way to propagate it; none of the other sources here describes a method. For a particular flower color, buy a named cultivar: NC State Extension lists white 'Icicle', pink 'Rosea' and 'Tickled Pink', purple 'Purpleicious' and the compact, purple 'Royal Candles', and the Missouri Botanical Garden says cultivars come in blue, violet-blue, pink and white.

Native range

Worldwide native range.

Climate notes

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NC State Extension and the Missouri Botanical Garden both list Veronica spicata for USDA hardiness zones 3 to 8 (3a-8b). The RHS rates it H4, hardy through most of the UK, with minimum temperatures of 14°F to 23°F: a rating for British gardens that is far more cautious than the zone 3 cold limit the American sources give.

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The native range here is taken from Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), the dataset POWO publishes: much of Europe, from Spain, France and Great Britain through Scandinavia and Finland, central and eastern Europe, Italy and the Balkans to Ukraine, Crimea and European Russia, and on through the North Caucasus, western Siberia, the Altai and Krasnoyarsk to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Xinjiang in northwestern China. The Missouri Botanical Garden and the RHS give the range more briefly as Europe and Asia.

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WCVP records it as introduced in Connecticut, New Hampshire and New York, in Ontario and Quebec, and in the Netherlands and Primorye in the Russian Far East. USDA PLANTS likewise lists it as introduced in the lower 48 states and in Canada and gives it no invasive or noxious status, and none of the sources consulted calls it invasive.

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The RHS records it as native to Great Britain and Ireland, though WCVP lists only Great Britain. Wikipedia notes that it became a protected species in the UK in 1975 and that it is the county flower of Montgomeryshire.

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Sources differ a little on when it flowers: NC State Extension says late spring to midsummer in its description and summer in its flower notes, the Missouri Botanical Garden mid-June to August, and the RHS summer. NC State adds that shearing it back after the first bloom can bring more flowers in fall.

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Sources also differ on how much drought it takes: the RHS rates it as drought resistant, while the Missouri Botanical Garden says its shallow roots make it generally intolerant of dry soil and that it does best with consistent moisture. NC State Extension tags it for pond edges as well as rock gardens.

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Agapanthus praecox

African lily

A bold, clump-forming evergreen perennial from South Africa, grown for big rounded umbels of trumpet-shaped blue (or white) flowers held on tall bare stalks above arching, strap-shaped leaves in mid-to-late summer. It is widely sold as "lily of the Nile," but that is a misnomer - the plant is South African (the Cape provinces and KwaZulu-Natal), not from the Nile. Spectacular and easy in warm climates, this evergreen Agapanthus is frost-tender, so in cold-winter areas it is grown in a container and overwintered under cover. The RHS has given several Agapanthus praecox forms its Award of Garden Merit and rates this evergreen species half-hardy (H3 - needs winter protection).

An upright, clump-forming perennial of the mint family native to the upper Midwest, Great Plains, and into central Canada, named for its anise-scented foliage. From June through September it carries dense terminal spikes of lavender-to-purple two-lipped flowers above square stems and opposite, toothed leaves. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as a nectar source with special value to native bees, bumble bees, and honey bees, and it also draws butterflies and hummingbirds.

Anise-scented sage is a tall, upright perennial in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. NC State Extension and Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder describe a bushy, square-stemmed plant 2 to 5 feet tall and wide that carries spikes of deep blue, two-lipped flowers with purple-blue calyxes from July into fall; NC State calls it a reliable nectar source for hummingbirds and butterflies, and notes that carpenter bees rob its nectar by biting a hole in the floral tube. The 'anise-scented' name is only partly earned: Wikipedia describes 'an anise scent when crushed,' but Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder says the bruised foliage has a very mild aroma with 'very little if any anise scent.' It spreads by tuberous roots that let it reproduce vegetatively (NC State Extension), so it fills a space rather than staying in a tidy clump. It is winter hardy only to about USDA zone 8a: farther north, grow it as an annual or overwinter cuttings indoors, though NC State notes the 'Black and Blue' cultivar is hardier and will survive milder zone 7 winters if well mulched. Neither NC State nor Missouri Botanical Garden documents an edible use or a toxicity hazard. NC State records, as ethnobotanical history, that the Guarani people of Brazil used it as a sedative; that is not a recommendation to take it, so treat it as a non-food ornamental. It has also naturalized outside South America (Wikipedia records it in New Zealand and Chile), so where winters are mild enough for it to persist outdoors, check your local weed or invasive-plant list before planting it.

Arkansas blue star (Amsonia hubrichtii), also called threadleaf bluestar or Hubricht's bluestar, is a clump-forming native perennial from a tiny wild range in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma that has become one of the most dependable foliage perennials in temperate gardens. It builds a soft, rounded, knee-to-waist-high mound of upright stems clothed in very fine, needle-like, thread-thin leaves, so the whole plant reads as a feathery green cloud through summer. In late spring the stem tips carry loose clusters of small, pale powder-blue, five-pointed star flowers, a quiet but pretty show that draws butterflies and other pollinators. Its headline act comes in autumn, when the fine foliage turns a clear golden-amber that lights up the border and earned it the Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year for 2011. It wants full sun to part shade and is famously tough, adaptable, and deer-resistant, though it will flop open in too much shade or overly rich soil, so give it sun and a light shearing after bloom if you want it to stay upright.

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium

Aromatic aster

A native central + eastern US perennial with intensely aromatic foliage when crushed and dense clouds of small blue-purple flowers in late fall - often the latest-blooming aster in the eastern flora. Drought + clay tolerant; among the toughest native fall pollinator plants.

Hylotelephium 'Herbstfreude'

Autumn-joy stonecrop

A clump-forming herbaceous perennial grown for its showy late-season flower heads: masses of tiny star-like flowers borne in flattened cymes 3 to 6 inches across that emerge rosy pink, deepen to rose-red, and fade to coppery-rust as they die. Gray-green, fleshy, succulent-like leaves form upright clumps to about 24 inches. Easily grown in dry-to-medium, well-drained soil in full sun, it is drought tolerant and attracts butterflies, and its foliage and dead inflorescences persist into winter for added interest.