Veronicastrum virginicum
Everything about culver's root is vertical. Straight unbranched stems carry narrow pointed leaves arranged in tidy whorls all the way up, and each stem finishes in a candelabra of slender tapering spires packed with tiny white flowers. The structure is as much the point as the flowers, and it holds through autumn as the seed heads dry. Flowering runs December to March.
This is a plant for a large border, a prairie-style planting, or a group in a wide bed where the repeated vertical lines can be seen properly. It works among grasses and late daisies, and it stands well against a hedge or fence. Bees work the spires heavily, and the dried stems hold their shape into winter.
Grow in full sun to light shade in fertile soil that stays moist through summer, and give it shelter, since stems this tall lean in wind. Worth being straight about one thing: culver's root is easy in the UK but genuinely slow to settle in New Zealand and is often slow to grow away in its first seasons. It also dies back completely, so mark the spot.
Reaches 1.5 to 2.5 m tall in flower with a clump 0.5 to 1 m across.
Trimming: Leave the stems standing through autumn and winter for the seed heads, then cut them to the ground in late winter. Cutting the plant back by a third in early summer gives a shorter, sturdier version that needs no staking.
Deadheading: Not recommended. The spent spires are a large part of what the plant offers in autumn and winter, and there is no second flush to be gained by removing them.
Fertilising: Mulch with compost in spring and apply a balanced slow-release fertiliser. Feeding matters here because the plant is slow to establish and needs every advantage in its first few years.
Watering: Water deeply and regularly, especially through the first two or three summers. Dry soil is the most likely reason a young plant sits still rather than growing away.
Pest Control: Slugs and snails take the emerging shoots in spring and can set back a plant that is already slow. Protect new plantings and check the crown regularly.
Disease Management: Powdery mildew appears on plants under drought stress or planted too close together. Keep the soil moist and mulched, and allow room around each clump.
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