Chrysopsis mariana (Maryland goldenaster)

Maryland Goldenaster is an unassuming plant that grows from spring to mid summer as a small basal rosette, emerging mid to late summer with brilliant yellow daisy-like flowers that bloom late summer into fall. The leaves are covered with fine, silvery hairs, giving the plant a soft, gray, fuzzy texture like lambs-ear.

 

Maryland goldenaster prefers sandy soils, as it is found in open woodlands, meadows, and hillsides, often brightening up dappled areas with poor, droughty, clay or rocky soils. It prefers at least half a day of light and performs best with more sun, but will bloom in part sun and some shade. This species will seed itself and spread slowly by short rhizomes to form a colony of late season golden blooms, but is not difficult to relocate.

 

Maryland goldenaster's low stature and tolerance of many difficult conditions make it a species that can do well in urban gardens. It can thrive in prairies with tall competition all around, or in rock gardens where little else grows. Pairs well with species that prefer sun or part sun and drought, such as purple lovegrass, little bluestem, Asclepias tuberosa (butterflyweed), Baptisia tinctoria (wild yellow indigo), Appalachian sunflower, Symphyotrichum undulatum (waxyleaf aster), and Liatris pilosa or Liatris squarrosa.

 

The Chrysopis genus blooms support over 2 dozen rare and uncommon pollen specialist bees, which have evolved to depend upon only a very select few flowers of this genus and closely related genuses to survive. The plant is a larval host to at least 5 caterpillar species.