Plant of the Week – Geum triflorum

Plant of the Week! One of the first spring green plants you’re likely to see in a native garden is Geum triflorum, Prairie Smoke. Prairie Smoke’s leaves often survive through winter, becoming a reddish purple color and then greening back up in spring. It is also one of the first prairie plants to flower, sending up bright magenta stalks with equally bright nodding flowers. The plant is at its most beautiful when it goes to seed. Flowers are replaced by delicate feathery plumes. When massed, the plumes resemble a low, grey-pink haze on the landscape. Prairie Smoke slowly spreads by rhizomes, and makes a great groundcover for dry, gravelly soils.