Plant · P-1065

Mexican Hat

Ratibida columnifera

Mexican hat is a short-lived perennial prairie wildflower grown for its long bloom season of yellow-and-maroon, cone-topped daisy flowers held on wiry stems above a low clump of finely divided leaves. Native across the Great Plains and Southwest, it thrives in full sun on lean, well-drained soil and shrugs off drought once established. Bees and butterflies visit the flowers for nectar and pollen, and the ripened seed heads feed seed-eating birds through fall and winter.