Field Pussytoes (Pussytoes)
Antennaria neglecta
Family:
Aster family - Asteraceae
Field Pussytoes, with its unique male and female flower structures, offer an evergreen groundcover in tough spaces and serve as a larval host plant for American Painted Lady butterflies.
Woodland garden
Container garden
Meadow / Grassland garden
Rock garden
Pollinator garden
Adaptable
Details
Emerges
Seed collection
Flowers
May, June
White
June
Height
4
-
40
cm
Lifecycle
Perennial
Width
20
-
30
cm
Habit
Forbs
Mat-forming
Stoloniferous
Spreading
Herbaceous
Ecology
Supports
Bees
Butterflies & Moths
Beneficial insects
Providing
Larval host plant
Pollen source
Predominantly pollinated by small bees and flies, including halactid bees, cuckoo bees, syrphid flies, and tachinid flies, it is also a host plant to American painted lady butterflies.
Habitat
Typically found in
open woods, prairie, disturbed areas
Grows in mesic (average moisture) prairies and dry or sloped open woods.
In the Garden
Growing Conditions
Moisture
Dry
Average
Moist
Light
Full sun
Part sun
Part shade
Soil
Average garden soil, Clay, Rocky, Loam
Propagation
Via
Seeds
Division
Sowing Recommendations
Fall planting
Landscape
Use for:
Border
Mass planting
Stabilization
Groundcover
Low maintenance gardening
Growing Tips
Field pussytoes are an adaptible plant, tolerating poor soil and moister conditions than other native pussytoes, and some sources suggest it can grow well in dry, shady locations. It won't tolerate soggy conditions, however—well-drained soil is a must.
This species has separate male and female flowers grown on different plants (only identifiable in bloom), so planting several is recommended.
Description
Field pussytoes form patches of low, evergreen groundcover spreading via stolons. The small basal leaves, dark green on the upper surface and hairy white beneath create a silvery effect. This is an excellent plant for borders and rock gardens. Like other pussytoes, its spreading, mat-forming habit helps reduce weed growth and stabilize soil.
Male flowers are broader and more showy than the narrower, cylindrical female flowers which produce heads of white seeds until late summer.
Common in grasslands and open woods, this species prefers somewhat moister situations than its uniformly grey-leaved relative, little-leaf pussytoes. However, they may be grown together in the garden.