Phemeranthus Species, Prairie Fame Flower, Sunbright

This is a very pretty and, perhaps, underappreciated plant. It seems to be very forgiving and tolerant of various conditions. The plants ...Read Moreare perennials, so when the leaves drop in the fall, don't assume the plant died. Young plants have very short stems. My oldest plant is about 20 years old and has a stem about 4 inches long. During the winter it looks dead, but it's not.

Even seedlings look like they have died when, in fact, they have not. If small seedlings are given insufficient moisture, they will go into suspended animation and appear to have disappeared. Only the size of the head of a pin, they are easy to lose unless an effort is made to keep track of them. Watering them again regularly results in sprouting of the plants that seemed dead.

It's unknown what the best germination method is. I tried growing some in a tray of sifted sand. Some of the seeds germinated, but the majority did not. Meanwhile, the soil in the pot left outside for the winter, germinated with dozens of seedlings. Most of the seedlings bloomed the first year.

Plant pictured is a second generation seedling from a plant growing wild in Dallas, Texas.