Description

Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia)

200 seeds per packet, collected in autumn 2025

Local Ecotype (Maryland Piedmont)

Vigorous, up to 6-foot-tall perennial with smaller flowers (well, composite flower heads of ray and disk florets—it is in the aster family). This survived many years of very heavy deer pressure, although it is doing even better with deer fencing in place. Can be aggressive, spreading by seed and rhizomes, making it a great selection for rewilding larger areas.

Here it grows best in part to full sun and mesic to moist conditions. Wingstem does well on disturbed sites and along roadsides too!

It supports a range of pollinators—if I take a close look, I never see fewer that three different species on a cluster of flowering wingstem plants.

Germination: winter sow or cold stratify for at least 45 days

Learn more at: iNaturalist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

$5.00