Plant · P-1073

Frostweed

Verbesina virginica

Frostweed is a tall, coarse-leaved perennial that keeps blooming into late fall, when its broad white flower clusters draw monarchs and other pollinators after most other nectar sources have finished. It tolerates shade well enough to bloom heavily under a canopy, and spreads on its own by both rhizomes and self-sown seed into big colonies. Its strangest trait shows up after the first hard freeze: moisture drawn up through the dead stem splits the bark and freezes into curling ribbons of ice that melt away by mid-morning.