What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 24: rattlesnake master

This is a delightful native plant that I was eager to put in two years ago. I think I put in 3, making a sort of windy “row” with them that my stepping stones wove around. Last year they got HUGE, and this spring I think I have about 10 total. The originals are much larger, but the babies have grown quite a bit already this season. I’m going to have to transplant at least 4 of them, and I moved the stepping stones into a new curve to accommodate the rest.

The flowers are really unusual and the pollinators love love love them. I’m enjoying this plant a lot and so glad I got it in to the garden early on.

More info:

Eryngium yuccifolium

Eryngium yuccifolium Michx.

Rattlesnake Master, Button Eryngo, Button Snakeroot, Beargrass, Bear's Grass

Apiaceae (Carrot Family)

Synonym(s): 

USDA Symbol: ERYU

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

Scattered along the stiff, upright stem of this unusual perennial are tough, blue-green, yucca-like, parallel-veined leaves. Smooth, rigid stem bearing thistle-like flower heads made up of small greenish-white florets mingled with pointed bracts. The individual, greenish-white flowers cluster into unique, globular heads. These occur on branch ends atop the 6 ft. plant. 

Their spiny leaves make walking through clumps of these plants difficult, and also make them unpalatable to grazing livestock. They were once credited with a variety of curative powers. Their flower heads develop a bluish cast with maturity.