🌿RARE WNC Native Plants🐐 Goat's beard features showy, fluffy, plume-like spikes of abundant, tiny creamy-white flowers, floating over rich green foliage late spring to mid summer. These elegant members of the rose family resemble Astilbe, but have a more open form. The delicate ivory plumes make lovely cut flowers, with male and female flowers appearing on separate plants. They also attract pollinators such as butterflies and bees. 💧Moisture lovers, these plants are ideal for adding soft structure to shady borders, woodland gardens, rain gardens, cutting gardens, butterfly gardens, along stream beds, and ponds. 🦋Host plant for Dusky Azure Butterflies, that depend upon these plants for their continued survival. These butterflies once had a much larger range in the USA, but are now found primarily in Western North Carolina. Planting ample Goat's Beard will help prevent these sweet little butterflies from going extinct - and provide more food for baby birds. 🏆Award winning! Aruncus dioicus has won the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Deer and rabbit resistant. 3-6'T x 2-4'W. Cold hardy to zone 3 (-40F). Plant Nerd: The folks at the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources are concerned about the Dusky Azure Butterflies (Celastrina nigra), as recorded sightings have been deeply declining for the last 30 years. While previously found all over Western North Carolina, including Buncombe county, they have only been seen three times since 2016 - twice in Graham county, and the other time in Jackson county. Adding the sighting in Polk County, TN (just over the border), they have only been reported in only 4 locations on the planet since 2016. Plant these plants to help be part of the solution! To learn more about butterflies, BAMONA has a great website. Native Americans have reportedly used the ground up roots for a variety of medicinal purposes. 🐐Goats? Beards? Yes goats DO grow beards, which inspired the common name for these plants. It is spelled a variety of ways, including Goatsbeard and Goat's Beard. Not all goat breeds grow beards, but most do. Male goats are more likely to grow beards than female goats, but it's possible with both. No one knows why goats grow beards, but male goats with lush locks seem to impress the ladies. It's also possible that the beards help to keep them warm. Please enjoy the glamor shot of Bam Bam the family goat showing off his beard!
