North Shore Plant Club
Big League Eastern Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana 'Big League')
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Eastern Bluestar is a clump-forming, long-lived herbaceous perennial and one of the most widely adaptable native plants in American horticulture. In mid-to-late spring, upright stems topped with lance-shaped, willow-like leaves are crowned by loose clusters of small, star-shaped, pale blue flowers -- a hazy blue cloud over the plant for three to four weeks. Once bloom finishes, it shifts into a reliable foliage plant, its bright green leaves staying clean all season before putting on one of the best autumn shows of any perennial: a consistent, glowing golden-yellow. The plant forms a tidy, rounded mound (commonly 2-3 ft tall and wide) and holds its shape well without staking in reasonable sun. Native to a broad swath of the central and eastern US -- including genuinely native to Illinois, where it occurs in rocky woodlands, along stream borders, and on limestone glades -- Eastern Bluestar tolerates everything from average well-drained soil to consistently moist sites, and shrugs off Chicago's heavy clay as readily as sandy or rocky ground. |
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| Tags | Potentially Toxic |
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Pricing and Availability HistoryClick a label to toggle visibility for that size
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We try very hard to source exactly what you’d like, but sometimes growers run out of plants! While this variety is a great deal at the price shown, we know that it has limited availability. If you want the plant even if it might be more expensive, or in a different size or quantity -- after you place your order, just send us a quick note at help@northshoreplantclub.com. Then, we’ll try to get you some version of this from one of our growers. And if we can’t get it from anywhere, of course, we’ll send a refund!
Plants which are well-adapted to our local climate are most often field-grown (outside). Field-grown plants are generally cheaper and have the advantage of already somewhat acclimated to our cold winters, but that means they’re not artificially far along in the spring and tend to bloom at the normal time in our area.
Spring annuals and tender perennials are typically grown in Greenhouses so they can be ready and luxurious exactly when customers want them. Some perennials are also “forced” into early bloom in greenhouses. In May, there can be a very big difference between field-grown and greenhouse-grown plants of the same type. The latter typically look good right away (so they’re a great choice where that’s important), but we typically pay a premium for it.
The cost of this recipe's ingredients will vary depending on the season and the sizes and varieties you select.
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Membership is free, but — since we rely on delivery and local pick-up — you have to live near one of our hubs (or be willing to drive to a site to pick them up). If you live farther away, and would like to help us bring the club to your neighbors, please email helpusgrow@northshoreplantclub.com.
To secure the best prices for club members and make sure we know the current plants available from each nursery, we take orders only a couple of times a month.
Shoot us an email at help@northshoreplantclub.com, and we'll be happy to talk about plants or let you know when it's time to buy them!
We order from a rotating cast of the best nurseries in the Great Lakes region. It looks like we've offered this plant in the past, but the nurseries we're working with this week don't appear to have it in stock at the moment.
Our goal is to bring as many plants together under "one roof" as possible, so we'll try hard to make it available again in the future!