Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Plant Profile: Cup Plant


The Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum) is a perennial plant that is native to the southeastern United States and up into eastern Canada. It has a wide USDA Zone range of 3 to 9.

It blooms in mid- to late summer and is a pollinator powerhouse. Dr. Paula Shrewsbury, an entomologist in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland has stated that Cup Plant is the best native pollinator plant for the state of Maryland.

The small, sunflower-like flowers are held on tall, sturdy stems. Along the stems are pairs of leaves that form the “cups” that give this plant its common name. After a rain, you may see it retaining water in them.

It needs full sun and is very low maintenance. It is an ideal plant for rain gardens as it is not picky about soil types.

This is a plant that needs its space, so put it where it can spread out a bit. Cup Plant also puts out deep roots making it hard to move it, so pick its spot in your garden carefully. It can re-seed around a bit and the young offshoots can be removed and planted or shared.

If you want to collect seeds, do so in September and October and then store the seeds in the refrigerator for a cold, moist stratification period of three months to simulate winter.

Cup Plant - You Can Grow That!

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.
Visuals by Taylor Calavetinos
Audio by Kathy Jentz

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