Melinda's Garden Moment Radio Tips
Melinda Myers
Nationally known gardening expert, TV/Radio host, author & columnist with over 30 years of horticulture experience and tons of gardening information to share! www.melindamyers.comMelinda's Garden Moment videos will help you create that beautiful landscape you’ve always wanted. Each week throughout the growing season, a new gardening video will be added right here, so be sure to stop back. You can also watch Melinda’s Garden Moments on your local network TV station affiliate.
Brighten your spring and early summer garden with the showy flowers of Golden Alexander.
You can find small colonies of this native growing in wet sunny meadows, moist prairies and open woodlands. It prefers moist soil but will tolerate drier conditions, making it well suited to rain gardens.
Golden Alexander is hardy in zones 3 to 8 and prefers full sun to light shade but will tolerate shadier locations. This short-lived perennial will self-seed, allowing it to naturalize when growing conditions are right.
The 1- to 3-feet-tall plants are topped with bright yellow flowers similar to other members of the carrot family. A variety of bees and butterflies will nectar on the flowers and black swallowtail caterpillars feed on the leaves.
Golden Alexander is relatively pest free and the deer tend to leave it be.
A bit more information: Don’t confuse Golden Alexander with the taller and later flowering wild parsnip Pastinaca sativa. The invasive wild parsnip causes severe rashes, blistering and burns when it contacts the skin on sunny days.