Lysimachia Species, Purple Gooseneck Loosestrife

This plant bloomed the spring after its fall planting. It then survived a brutal Texas summer of no rain receiving no rain for months and...Read More only 2 or three supplemental watering during the summer. It is planted in a limestone gravely soil that was amended with granite sand and compost. I thought it had dried to a crisp after its glorious flowering , but it greened up after the November rains and has grown larger and made many bloomstalks this spring. I LOVE IT against my artemisia "Valery Finnis" and Palaver rhoeas.I am planting more. I have some Standing cypress behind it reiterating its tall form in red. Very nice. Easy to grow from seed. I am now experimenting with it in different soils like a more moist rich average garden soil and a full sun scree.

This species is not to be confused with either the widely invasive purple loosestrife or the thuggish gooseneck loosestrife.

...Read More> Burgundy loosestrife is a plant of quiet beauty with beautiful silvery bluish foliage and a very long season of bloom.

The leaves have a silver stripe down the middle, and a subtle silvery tone over all.

The flowers are not purple but a very deep burgundy red that's almost black. Bloom proceeds on the flower spikes from the bottom upwards, and the spikes continue to lengthen and produce new buds at the tip for month after month. No deadheading is necessary. If you cut the flower spike at the base, multiple secondary spikes will form.

Prefers full sun and well drained soil. It is reasonably drought tolerant. It rots in soil that's too consistently wet. It does not prosper where summer night temperatures often remain above 70F---it performs much better in northern North America than in the southeast.

This is a well-behaved clump-former, and does not spread underground like Lysimachia clethroides (gooseneck loosestrife). I'm trying it a second time---lost it once during the winter, after planting it in too much shade. It is said to be a short-lived perennial (or perhaps a biennial) that---like purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) or feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium)---maintains itself (where happy) by self-sowing.

Unlike some of its congeners, this is not weedy or aggressive in the garden, nor has it been reported to naturalize anywhere in North America. The USDA maintains a huge database of plants that have naturalized in North America, and this species is conspicuously absent. It is also absent from the definitive and exhaustive BONAP atlas.

The common name that heads this listing ("purple gooseneck loosestrife") is not widely used, and it invites confusion with both gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides) and purple loosestrife (Lythrum virgatum and Lythrum salicaria), which are famously invasive. This plant is more commonly (and less confusingly) called burgundy loosestrife.

Update June 2014: The plant I planted last year did not survive the winter, but I see a small cluster of seedlings where it grew!

July 2014 Seedlings transplanted to full sun are doing much better (and growing much faster) than those in partial shade---the latter are hardly growing at all.

Absolutely love this plant! What a beautiful plant she is. I am in love with the silvery bluish leaves and the spikes of flowers? WOW! Th...Read Moreey are just gorgeous. I seem to be the only person around this part of Montana ( maybe all of Montana? ) that grows this and/or knows what it is. Mine has stayed right where I planted it and it is in full bloom as we type and has been for sometime now. I purchased my plant from Annie's Annuals in Richmond, California via mail order along with a number of other plants. They have all done splendidly well and this one is all I hoped for and more. I was attracted by the photo and description of the plants leaves, growth habit and especially those fabulously beautiful reddish purple flowers that grow like Gooseneck Loosetrife or Looseneck Goosetrife as I like to say, which I'm fairly sure they are in the same family as ( Lysimachia! Not Lythrum! ). The photos that people have posted are beautiful but just don't do the plant justice, nor do a lot of the comments. I guess it really depends on where you live and what your definition of beauty is, perhaps. But seriously, if you get one of these, I am sure you'll be quite pleased and very happy with it. It's a total hummer and butterfly magnet. It also attracts all other manner of insects, some or most beneficial and some not so much so. Hope I never lose this plant and if I do, you can bet I'll be buying not just one but a few next time. If there ever has to be a next time!

We've grown Lysimachia atropurpurea 'Beaujolais' for two years. Last year we planted it in full sun in heavy, sticky clay soil - it succ...Read Moreumbed in the summer heat. This year we planted it in several spots with different light conditions (full sun to light shade) in much better soil and so far it seems to be thriving. It does, however, appear to be a finicky plant - not too wet, not too dry, but we still love the burgundy flowers and the gray-green foliage and are hoping for success this year. This is NOT an invasive species and should not be confused with the invasive tendencies of the other species in this genus. At summer's end we'll report how the plant survived the hot summer heat of Virginia . Hopefully we'll be able to replace the neutral rating with a positive!