our answer to prairie smoke
A plant that was a big hit with many of the bloggers who made it to Chicago for the recent Garden Bloggers Spring Fling was prairie smoke, Geum trifolium. I didn’t make it to Chicago, and I’ve never seen prairie smoke in person. But it looked like I’d have been as struck with it as all the bloggers who witnessed its terrific puffball seedheads in real life.
Photo to the right: Gary A. Monroe, US Forest Service [ source ]
The seedhead to the left, however similar it might appear, is not prairie smoke. Instead, it’s Apache plume, Fallugia paradoxa, the Southwest’s alternative to the Midwest’s puffball.
Flowers and seedpods are great ways to tell which plants are related. Just looking at the seeds you could probably guess that the two plants are related, with both of them belonging to the rose family. You can see the rose resemblance even more in the flowers in the following photo.
I photographed these ten days ago in the parking lot of Las Pilitas Nursery, where they were near their peak. If I had more space I might have brought some of these home with me…
The shrubs grow about four feet tall and a little wider, with whitish stems and narrow rosemary-like leaves. The Jepson Horticultural database states that Fallugia paradoxa “grows especially well in zones 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 and also in zones 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 24.” No plant is perfect, unfortunately. The Native Plant Database of the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center gives you a heads-up: “It is good for erosion control because of drought-tolerance and aggressive seeding. It can, however, become too aggressive in optimum conditions.”
All those cool seeds must go somewhere.
June 17 2009 05:45 am | Categories: gardening • plant profiles | Tags: Apache plume • Fallugia paradoxa • Geum trifolium • native plants • Prairie smoke
Gail on 17 Jun 2009 at 11:10 am #
it is a beauty, too! probably would hate it here in the southeast, too! gail
Town Mouse on 17 Jun 2009 at 7:36 pm #
Very cool plant. But thanks for the warning, I have enough to pull as is and will have to pass. Shame, though…
lostlandscape on 18 Jun 2009 at 8:47 am #
Gail, I wonder if there might be another rose relative that would have the same seedheads and like life in the south…
Town Mouse, I doubt my garden would qualify as the “optimum conditions” where this plant could be a problem. I still might give it a try.
Pam/Digging on 18 Jun 2009 at 12:46 pm #
I’ve admired apache plume in New Mexico, I believe. It is lovely.
Pomona Belvedere on 19 Jun 2009 at 4:32 pm #
I like this botanical pairing. Maybe there’s a way Apache plume could be contained, as in your concrete garden? Although with those seeds, they could go anywhere…still, beautiful, and I envy you the trip to Las Palitas.