Buy Dodecatheon meadia f. album

Meteoric!! Well, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but "Shooting Stars" is the common name for Dodecatheon meadia and you really don't have to stretch your imagination too far to see how folks arrived at that moniker. Here's a very unusual, easy to grow early Spring ephemeral wildflower that's native to 27 states east of the Mississippi, yet will find itself happy and at home just about anywhere. Dodecatheon meadia is a member of the Primula family, closely related to Cyclamen and Primrose. The form I've been growing for the past few decades is actually referred to as Dodecatheon meadia Alba. It's a pure white form and just so happens to be wonderfully fragrant. From a basal rosette, when there's not much else going on in the garden, multiple, sturdy, wiry stems emerge and shoot skyward to 24" tall. Seemingly overnight, clusters of upright buds, each on its own wiry little stem, appear. As these swelling buds age, they slowly turn downwards and open to create delightfully, unusually shaped pendulous flowers that "hang around" for quite a while. The pollinated flowers set copious amounts of seed and before you know it, you'll have your own natural colony of Shooting Stars. Being a woodland plant, they naturally occur in the shade, but can easily handle sun as there really are no leaves on the trees in the early time of Spring that these guys are up and out. Dodecatheon meadia doesn't appear to be too concerned about soil type or texture, pH or moisture conditions. And as an added benefit, as with other members of this family such as Primroses, the deer pay them no mind. OH! I almost forgot to tell you what really cool cut flowers they make. Pretty versatile plant, huh?

Large pure white flowers. Likes moist in spring and dryer in summer when it is dormant.