Virginia ecotype
- Duration: Perennial
- Habit: Clumping, rhizomatous, naturalizing
- Size: 1 - 2 ft. high / wide, usually half except in flower
- Flowering time: April to June
- Bloom color: Yellow with gold centers
- Habitat: Prairies, meadows, rock outcrops, rocky woodlands, and hillsides
- Moisture: Average to dry, well draining, tolerant of seasonal flooding
- Light: Full to part sun; best display in high sun
- Soils: Clay, loamy, sandy, rocky; adaptable so long as well draining
- Uses: Prairie restorations, hillsides, front of borders, boulevard or hell-strip plantings
Packera dubia (Woolly ragwort)
Packera dubia is called the woolly ragwort as its blue-green foliage is lightly downy, owing to its drought tolerance. It is one of the shorter and most drought tolerant of the ragworts of the region, occurring along roadsides, pine barrens, and dry grassy landscapes.
Clusters of yellow/gold blooms appear atop 1 - 2 foot tall stalks in mid-spring and bloom for about a month. The blooms typically appear well before many summer wildflowers emerge, making Packera dubia an important early nectar and pollen source for native bees, small butterflies, and other awakening insects. The Packera genus is also important for a rare specialist bee, Andrena gardineri, which has evolved to only feed on the flower's pollen in order to survive.
Packera dubia sports long, lambs-ear like foliage with a blue-green hue. The more sun it gets the more noticeable the downy leaves, an adaption to present in many plants to conserve moisture. This plant is rhizomatous and will slowly spread underground and by seeding to make a small colony in areas with bare ground or low competition. We like to use it in dry and difficult sites where we want a low growing and spreading spring bloomer.