Euphorbia Species, Flowering Spurge, Prairie Baby's Breath, Wild Spurge

This nice native perennial grows in meadows and prairie, roadsides, and open woods in a native range from Minnesota, thru southern Ontari...Read Moreo to New York then southward. Like other spurges it has a white milky juice when leaves or stems are broken. The flowering inflorescence is made of 5 or 6 branches in a whorl.

This easy, beautiful plant is grossly underutilized in gardens.

It's one of the easiest, toughest, most adaptable, and lon...Read Moregest blooming of perennials. It produces clouds of tiny, airy white flowers for months on end---the effect is often compared to babies' breath (Gypsophila). Because of the small size of the individual flowers and the fine texture, this is a member of the chorus and not a leading lady, but it's lovely all the same. Looks great contrasted with bold foliage, and makes a great "weaver" in the border.

Makes a good cut flower if the cut ends are heat-treated like poppies. Beautiful long-lasting red fall foliage color.

Drought tolerant, deer-resistant, long-lived, no significant pests or diseases, no deadheading necessary. The flowers are very popular with a variety of beneficial pollinators.

This species grows slowly, and since it's taprooted it doesn't move well once established. Even the seedlings are hard to move. Potted plants are small and unprepossessing, and it takes a year or two in the ground for them really to show what they can do.

I find it self-sows lightly, but it isn't the least aggressive or invasive. Seedlings are easily removed.

This plant likes dry conditions once established. It can rot in a bed that's poorly drained or irrigated too often. Like all euphorbias, it has a white latex/sap that can give some people a skin rash.

A single plant puts up only 1-2 stems, which branch at the top. For best garden effect, I've found a nursery that grows their plants from plugs containing a dozen or so stems (and presumably plants). This multiplies the flowers in the garden, and the crowded plants don't seem to suffer.

I LOVE this plant! Talk about an easy, reliable plant that blooms all summer long! My Euphoria is planted in a narrow area between a co...Read Morencrete walkway and the south-facing wall of my garage. The many white flowers stand out against the dark, brick background and are beautiful! They lighten the area with their white color and their "airiness" and are even nice in a bouquet. They have bloomed steadily since the beginning of June and it's near the end of August with no diminishment of flowers. Other than adding a small support to keep them from leaning away from the brick wall, Euphorbia corollata has demanded little water and NO deadheading, and has truly been a carefree plant in my yard. I wish I had an entire line of them along the brick wall as they stand out much better than the "Stella d'Oro" that is along side them. I'm on the prowl for more of these beauties as my local garden center does not carry them.

The flowers attract wasps, flies,
and short-tongued bees.The wasps are such
visitors as Mud Daubers, Paper wasps, Spider wa...Read Moresps, Cuckoo
wasps, Tiphiid wasps, Crabronine wasps, and Ichneumonid
wasps. Fly visitors include Syrphid flies, bee flies,
Tachinid flies, flesh flies, blow flies, and Muscid flies.
The seeds are popular
with birds, including the Wild Turkey,
Greater Prairie Chicken, Bobwhite, Mourning Dove, and
Horned Lark. This plant is rarely eaten by
herbivores because of the toxic white latex in the leaves
and stems, which can kill cattle.