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When you want a perennial with lovely, clean, straight lines then consider this relative of the snapdragon, Culver’s root. The Latin name of this plant is Veronicastrum virginicum.
This perennial is often referenced as an herb. However, I feel it really is a great addition to any wildflower garden.
This plant, during July and August, will grace your garden with lovely white flower stalks and whorls of deeply green leaves. Culver’s Root will grow from three to six feet tall and you might want to consider it whenever you create a “Moon Garden” or a “White Garden”, even though it will create quite a vertical statement when you plant it among other perennials.
This perennial grows best when planted one inch apart in full sun to shade and likes medium to moist rich soil. It is hardy to zone 4 and makes an excellent cut flower.
Looking slightly like candelabra the flowers will be in clusters about eight inches in length crowding around each spike and they bloom from the bottom up. Though they have no scent they are very lovely.
This perennial has a central taproot with some rhizomes which allows it to have vegetative reproduction. The wind will carry its tiny seeds several feet from the mother plant thus enabling it to reproduce again.
Its dark green leaves are about eight inches long and about one and half inches wide. This perennial will attract short-tongue and long-tongue bees as they like to collect the Culver’s root pollen and suck its nectar. The seeds of this perennial are too tiny to attract birds but it will attract honeybees, Mason bees, bumblebees and others. It also attracts butterflies.
Years ago Culver’s root was used for all kinds of ailments such as liver or gallbladder disorders, as a liver tonic, to promote bile flow and was probably among the traveling salesman or medicine men’s inventory. Culver’s root was named for American physician, Dr. Coulvert, of the late 17th and early 18th century
In New York and Massachusetts this plant is considered an threatened species and in Vermont it is classified as an endangered species.
This perennial is considered a wild flower that you can cultivate in your area provided you give it the start it needs. It is a great addition to any wildflower garden and will create stunning effects when grouped with Purple cornflowers, Rigid Golden Rod, and Black Eyed Susan.
Once can buy these tiny seeds and even potted plants from many nurseries on the internet.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… May your day be filled with…Peace, Light and Love,
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Many of her articles written for Greenthumbarticles have paintings she has created of the subject and they can be seen at her “How to Do It” site. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Many of her paintings are sold internationally and many of her works of art have been reproduced on note cards, post cards and other functional items and you can get Giclee prints of her artwork starting as low as $11.89 Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books, art, etc. go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my sites.”
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