For Your Garden - October 2015

Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.

 

rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium)
Photo © Illinois Department of Natural Resources

 

Rosinweed grows in prairies statewide. The plant is about two to three feet tall when mature. The stems usually have paired leaves with no stalks, although the arrangement and shape of the leaves varies greatly. The leaves are rough to the touch. Flower heads are produced on short stalks at the stem tips in July and August. The flower heads contain yellow ray flowers surrounding yellow-green disk flowers. It is called “rosinweed” due to the resinlike sap that the plant produces. This plant provides nectar and pollen for native pollinator species.