Overview and growing conditions
Culver’s Root is a flowering perennial. It can handle a variety of conditions but will thrive in a location where it gets full sun with some shade during the hottest part of the day. It also thrives in areas where it gets adequate watering and in soil that doesn’t dry out. If you plant it in a truly full sun location, regular watering is even more important.
You can get away with more sun and less water, but it will get droopy and may not grow and flower as well. In my own garden, I originally planted it in a very dry, hot area. It hasn’t died in three years, but it hasn’t grown in size and droops in the summer unless I water it.
When does it flower? How long does it flower?
Culver’s Root flowers in mid-summer. The species version has white flowers, and there are cultivars that come in shades of purple, white, pink, or red.
Culver’s Root flowers for about a month. It responds to deadheading, so you can cut off flowers after they’ve started fading to encourage more flowering.
How easy is it to care for Culver’s Root?
Overall score: 9 (very easy).
I docked it a point because it is not truly drought-resistant, so in many gardens there could be some watering needs. Otherwise there are few to no tasks required to keep this plant alive once you get it in the ground.
You could (but don’t have to) complete these tasks:
- Spring pruning: Culver’s root can be cut back in the spring to delay flowering, but it won’t affect the appearance of the plant. I don’t cut back my own since I’m fine with when it normally flowers.
- Deadheading: Does Culver’s Root need to be deadheaded? It can be deadheaded for additional flowers, but it isn’t necessary. I have not seen it produce a ton of additional flowers after deadheading, and I don’t find the fading flowers too ugly. As a result, I don’t normally deadhead my own Culver’s Roots since I don’t see it as worth the effort.
- Irrigation: If this plant is in a dry location, especially if it’s also in full sun, you may need to water in the height of the summer. It won’t necessarily die if you don’t, but it won’t look its best.
- Cutting back: Culver’s Root dies back in the winter and regrows each spring. Like many perennials in a low-maintenance garden, you can leave it over the winter and cut it back in the late winter/early spring. In my own garden, it actually dies back completely to the ground in the fall and disappears, so I’ve found that you can get away with not doing much of anything to it. When it dies back on its own, you may want to pick up any fallen stems or leaves to keep things tidy, but as a sometimes lazy gardener, I’ve found that even those will decompose into the ground pretty well over the winter.
You don’t have to worry about…
- Dividing or replacing: This is a long-lived plant that is unlikely to need to be replaced or divided anytime soon.
- Managing spread: Technically Culver’s Root can grow from seed, but I have never seen a baby plant growing from a seed in my own garden. It spreads to about 2-3 feet but stays in its place. The tradeoff is that it can take several glowing seasons fill out that 2-3 feet.
Preparing Culver’s Root for the winter
As long as you are in hardiness zones 3-8, there isn’t any winter preparation necessary.
Problem’s with Culver’s Root
This plant is normally listed as being pest and disease free. I haven’t had any issues in my own garden.
There is a report of a root borer that could kill the plant, but so far this seems to be an emerging and infrequent issue.