Zone: 3 to 9

Soil: sand to loam

Light: Full sun to part sun

Bloom colour: White and yellow

Bloom period: August to September

Height: 2 to 3 feet

Moisture: Medium

Attracts:Wasps, bees and butterflies

Notes: Don't be fooled by the name. This plant actually grows throughout Canada and the United States. It is moderately attractive to a wide range of pollinators and is the host plant for the painted lady and American lady butterflies. If your plant gets munched down by caterpillars, it will bounce back when the larvae have matured.

The plant is distinctive in many ways. The leaves are covered in tiny hairs called trichomes. These hairs reduce transpiration rates and provide protection against intense sunlight. They may also hinder insects from eating the leaves. In young plants, there are few trichomes and the leaves appear green. As the density of the hair increases, the leaves become silvery white or greyish.

There is some confusion about this plant's ability to survive drought as the trichomes or the narrow and rolled leaves suggest that it is xerophytic. The plant survives meteorological drought, but it cannot survive agricultural drought. If the soil dries up, it will be the amongst the first plants to wilt. I tested this plant's ability to survive drought in different soil types over 3 years. In northern or higher altitude areas, it can survive meteorological drought because the cooler and moister air slows down evapotranspiration. In sandy areas around the Bay of Fundy or in the Laurentides of Quebec, this plant is a happy bunny. In dry sandy areas of southern Ontario and the Midwest, it will die back and not return. It grows in similar conditions to Solidago bicolor and the plants are often found growing together in the wild.

If you have regular garden soil, this plant will grow beautifully and its foliage colour will provide excellent contrast with the surrounding vegetation.

The flowers are another distinctive feature of this plant. The plants are dioecious, so if you want to produce daughter plants, you will need to plant several specimens to ensure that you have both male and female plants. This is a highly unusual feature in species within the Asteraceae family. The composite flowers are surrounded by silvery leaf bracts and sterile white florets. The fertile reproductive structures at the centre of the flower are yellow and are particularly noticeable in the male flowers.

The plant gets its name as the flowers can be dried out and will last a long time. While each composite flower is fairly small, they grow in conspicuous clusters called a corymb which makes the flowers quite attractive. They have a long blooming period in the latter part of the summer.

If you have a well drained loam soil, then this will work out as a great garden plant contrasting with surrounding plants while providing a long season of interest.