Meadow Rue

Photo taken May 16, 2012

Meadow Rue - Lavender Mist
Thalictrum rochebruneanum

Purchased from Portland Nursery on Division last summer. I moved them from by west side of the pond to the east side last fall. Planted two.

They belong to the large buttercup family (ranunculaceae), also home to other garden staples such as clematis, columbines, anemones, delphiniums, and hellebores. Botanists distinguish them from other closely related genuses by their flower characteristics: the lack of nectar and petals, the way they bear seeds in achenes. 

Provide shelter from afternoon sun

Needs moist soil 

blooms mid to late spring

Sow seed in a cold frame when fresh. Divide as new growth appears in spring.

Just one or a few flowering stalks extending about four feet up from a low-growing rosette. The stalks have an attractive purple cast. Although from a distance the flowering plant looks like a haze of purple, when you step closer it's much easier to see the individual flowers, much less densely spaced. Although it produces seed just as abundantly as columbine meadow rue, the seeds are in smaller husks, not so obvious when the plants are done blooming.

Grows 5+' in height