Gooseneck loosestrife is an East Asian perennial whose dense spikes of tiny white flowers arch over to one side like a goose's neck. In the US it is a popular garden plant, known for spreading fast by underground stems, and it has escaped from gardens in parts of New England.
Appearance
- Growth form
- An upright perennial 2–3 ft (60–100 cm) tall that spreads 2–4 ft (60–120 cm) wide by .
- Flowers
- Tiny white, star-shaped flowers about ½ inch (1.2 cm) across crowd onto arching spikes roughly 4–9 in (10–22 cm) long in descriptions of wild plants, and up to 12–18 in (30–45 cm) in garden descriptions. They make good cut flowers.
- Flowering time
- Blooms from late spring through summer, roughly May to August in North Carolina.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Gardens
- Moist woodland edges
- Grassy slopes
- Range
- Native to China, Japan, Korea, and the Russian Far East. In the US it is a garden plant that has escaped cultivation in parts of New England (for example Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts), usually in disturbed places such as roadsides, fields, and old garden sites.
- Preferred conditions
- In its native range it grows on damp woodland margins, wet ravines, and sunny grassy hills and mountain slopes.
- Flowering
Flowers May–Aug
Flowers May–Aug
Growing it
- Care
- Hardy in USDA zones 3–8. Grows in full sun to part shade and likes rich, moist soil. It spreads aggressively, so gardeners plant it inside edging or hardscape and divide it in spring. It spreads less in dry shade but also flowers less there.
- Propagation
- Spreads mainly by rhizomes and can also come up from seed.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- In China, the young shoots and leaves are eaten as a vegetable.
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