purple loosestrife
Lythrum salicaria
RHS Plants for Pollinators
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Habit
- Erect
- Bloom season
- Spring, summer, autumn
- Bloom color
- Magenta
- Soil types
- Loam, clay
- Soil pH
- Acid, alkaline, neutral
Garden uses
Attracts
Notes
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is a perennial for borders, rain gardens, and pollinator gardens. It is hardy to USDA zone 4, or down to -30°F (-34°C). This plant likes full or part sun and average to wet, loamy or clay soil. It grows rapidly and bears magenta blooms from early to late summer, and bees visit them. It is not a favorite of deer, though hungry deer will eat almost anything. It reaches 24 to 48 inches tall and wide.
Pairs well with Bee balm, Diane culver’s root, and Venusta queen of the prairie.
Native range
Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, and 20 more places. See all 24
Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, Africa, Australia, Altay, Amur, Corse, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Krym, Kuril Is., Manchuria, NW. Balkan Pen., Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Sicilia, Tadzhikistan, Türkiye, and Xinjiang.