Vernonia lettermannii ‘Iron Butterfly’

I find it interesting that the only place in the wild you can find the species known as Lettermann’s Ironweed is in Eastern Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas. This selection known as Iron Butterfly is a more elegant form that features a more dense and compact growth habit with excellent texture. It originated in Allan Armitage’s University of Georgia plant trials garden. A perfect perennial for gardens in this area, its name tells you all you need to know, tough as iron and loved by butterflies. Iron Butterfly’s violet-purple petalless daisy flowers appear in the summer and bring in hordes of butterflies but no deer. Poor soils are probably its preferred location, but it tolerates a wide range of growing conditions.