Amsonia (Blue Star) 'Butterscotch'
Light: Full to Part Sun
Type: Perennial
Wonderful native; spectacular fall foliage
Photo by Gilbert H. Wild and Son
Arkansas Blue Star is adored for its many outstanding attributes and considerable beauty. And now comes the crown jewel, Butterscotch Arkansas Blue Star; it brings all the best of its sibling but with even more fantastic features.
More than just a static shrub, simple breezes keeps Butterscotch in waves of graceful motion. Its billowy masses of fine green foliage stand out against its striking red stems. It has Arkansas Blue Star’s starry blue flowers in spring, yet Butterscotch’s flowers bloom longer than the species. And like its more famous sibling, its foliage turns brilliant yellow, yet Butterscotch’s narrow leaves take on a deeper, richer golden hue. Butterscotch Blue Star has proven to be a more vigorous grower with fewer disease problems. Long-lived perennial.
A favorite of garden designers, Arkansas Blue Star, Amsonia hubrictii, is grown for its star-like, powdery blue spring flowers, and ornamental narrow foliage that turns brilliant yellow in fall. Easy to grow. The species is a Missouri Botanical Garden’s Plants of Merit. A fantastic foliage plant; use it where you want its needle-like foliage to set off other plants with large leaves. Although technically not a native Missouri plant, it has naturalized in Missouri.
Plant in full sun in well-draining soil. Cutting back the stems by about 6″ after flowering helps keep the stems upright and will shape the plant into an attractive foliage mound. (Source: Sugar Creek Gardens)