Bistorta Species, Firetails, Red Bistort, Red Mountain Fleeceflower

This is a gorgeous, substantial perennial that deserves more attention. Picked it up on impulse at a local nursery 3 years ago, plunked i...Read Moret into some bad clay soil in afternoon sun, zone 5a, and it's reproduced enough to move quite a few rhizome clumps to a more prominent front bed. I've put it with some giant hyssop and verbenas, hoping it will work well with those other tall spiky plants.

The bright crimson spiked silhouette is really striking against my green painted house.

Just a great plant, highly recommend if you have the space. It does need some room and looks best when you've got a few massed together with others to the sides; as a sole specimen it looks a bit elbow-y.

A tough, long-lived border perennial that blooms nonstop from early summer to frost. It does not require staking or deadheading--flowers ...Read Moreare self-cleaning. Color is crimson, a deep cool luminous red.

Armitage writes that it's hardy from Z4-7. Does not perform well where summers are hot and humid, as in the southeastern US.

Best with consistent moisture and some protection from afternoon shade, though I've seen this do well in full sun without irrigation.

This does well in ordinary garden soil, and is NOT a rock-garden plant. A well-behaved clump-former, it grows from a thick shallow rhizome that's easily divided, vigorous but slow to spread. A long-lived plant, I recently saw this species holding its own against the weeds in a garden abandoned twenty years ago.

The rhizome can be lifted and divided any time of year when the ground's workable, if the top growth is cut back to the ground.

I find an occasional self-sown seedling (indistinguishable from the parent), but I've never seen it self-sow aggressively. In a genus known for its weedy members, this is a superb garden plant. It's widely used in Europe, but American gardeners are just starting to use it.

I don't know why this beautiful plant isn't sold more often in nurseries or featured in garden magazines. I'm amazed how many people wal...Read Morek through my gardens and have never seen it. Though it responds well to moisture----as most plants do----during busy times my established plants have held their own during droughty conditions. The foliage is so pretty---almost like they've been painted with rich water colors--and the delicate stems and petite flowers never need staking. I've shared divisions with happy gardeners and it survives in full sun, shade, dappled shade, clay, sandy loam. It spreads, but isn't invasive. What a great and beautiful plant.

This plant has performed really well for me. It's bright green leaves contrast beautifully with its red spiky flowers, and it blooms non...Read Morestop from early summer until a killing frost. It re-seeds, but not enough to become a pest. The volunteer seedlings can be put in (large) terra cotta pots on the deck for a gorgeous display. I've had lots of comments from passers-by, because it's a very unusual and striking looking plant and most people seem never to have seen one before.