For Your Garden - January 2021

Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.

great Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea)
Photo © River Valley Photographic Resources Ltd., rvprltd.com

Great Angelica grows in the northern one-half of Illinois. It may be found in woodlands, calcareous fens, thickets and calcareous marshes. Flowers are produced from May through August. The flowers are white and appear in umbrella-shaped clusters. This plant's stem is dark purple. Great Angelica may reach four to five feet in height.

Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae