Dalea purpurea - Purple Prairie Clover - 3" Pot

Purple prairie clover is a staple dry prairie species that behaves well in garden settings. It prefers full sun and any well drained soil. With its deep tap root, purple prairie clover is very resistant to drought. It grows a cluster of vertical stems up to two feet tall, each adorned with delicately lobed foliage and topped with a thimble-shaped flowering head. Starting in summer, the flowering head blooms sequentially from bottom to top, purple rings rising up the thimbles through time.

Though these flowers are not particularly fragrant, they are extremely attractive to a diversity of pollinators including honeybees, bumblebees, cuckoo bees, leafcutter bees and others. Purple prairie clover is also a larval host plant for butterfly species such as the Southern Dogface, California Dogface, and Reakirt's Blue butterflies as well as several small moth species. Moreover, many other types of insects feed on this plant's foliage, seeds, and other parts. As a member of the legume family, purple prairie clover hosts beneficial bacteria in its roots that allow it to fix nitrogen into the soil, improving soil quality. This plant works great in rock gardens, garden borders, and naturalized prairie plantings.