Erigeron philadelphicus, Philadelphia Fleabane

Blooming early to mid June, their nodding flower buds lift as they mature, turning into upward facing disks of pink rays with gold centers. Like Annual and Daisy Fleabane, these arrived in my life without any assistance from me, other than not pulling them, but, now that I’ve gotten to know them a bit better, I made a point of gathering some seeds last summer so that I could help introduce them into a few more spaces.

Fleabane seed gathering was a bit of a learning curve. Not only are thy quite light and quick to blow away, they also appear immediately after the blooms fade, with the ray petals withering a bit but, rather than the flowers drying entirely and the seeds developing over weeks or months, the flower just starts to puff out over a couple of days and the next thing you know, the disk, rays and seeds have all blown away!

I learned to make a point of visiting the plants that I planned to gather seeds from in the morning, while the wind was usually a bit calmer, and checking for the puffy looking flowers that are actually the Fleabane version of seed heads.

Perfectly adaptable to available space, the one that made a home in a 2” wide strip of gravely soil at the edge of my driveway, where I was greeted with adorable buds and blooms when I came home, grew to around 8” wide and 12” tall. The ones in more open spaces, especially if they are more than one year old, reach around 3’ in height and 2’ in spread this. The cluster of base leaves on mature individuals grow to just about a foot across.

A bit fonder of rich soil than the Annual Fleabanes, these are also a bit more tolerant of shade, getting by just fine with around 4 hours of sun, although they will be perfectly pleased with a full sun location with moderate soil fertility and moderate moisture