Whats in Bloom: Silphiums for fall (native prairie plants), tough species that need little water

‘Drought tolerant’. That is the description we all want to hear, and will most certainly need to hear as time goes by and water becomes increasingly expensive, and perhaps scarce in some regions.  Four silphiums make up the family : Compass plant, cup plant, rosin weed, and prairie dock all present bright sulfur yellow blooms, and large tough leaves.

Rosin weed (silphium terebinthinaceum) grows in clumps, to 4′, butterfly magnet