This herbaceous perennial has thick woody roots and erect branched stems that form a bushy habit. It has bright green lance-shaped pointed leaves and the pale blue star-shaped flowers appear in dense heads during spring above the foliage.

Hardiness zones 3 to 9

Amsonia tabernaemontanais naturally found in North America from Virginia to Missouri and extending to Texas growing in open woodlands thickets or on slopes and in disturb soils along roadsides or railroads.

It prefers an open sunny to partly shaded position and grows in most well-drained moderately fertile moist soils including clay loams and is frost, snow and drought tolerant.

The Eastern Bluestar is grown for its flowers and clumping habit. It is planted in garden beds as a specimen or used in herbaceous borders and in large rockeries or containers. It is suitable for inland regions establishing in 1-2 years and is moderately long-lived. This native perennial attracts hummingbird and tolerates a wide range of conditions and soils making it an easy plant to cultivate. ID 3575

Amsonia (am-SOH-nee-ah) tabernaemontana (TAB-ern-eye-mon-TAH-nah)

Apocynaceae(a-pos-ih-NAY-see-ee)