Catchfly Prairie Gentian
Eustoma exaltatumnative · Hill Country
Catchfly Prairie Gentian is an annual wildflower native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 1–2 ft tall and 1 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and high water. Blooms blue and purple in May–Oct. Good for bees, birds, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Wet ground only. Usually found in wetlands and creek bottoms. It wants reliably moist ground and struggles in a dry upland bed.
Will it grow in your yard?
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The facts
5 sources- Type
- Annual wildflower
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade (4–8 hrs of direct sun)
- Water
- High
- Height
- 1–2 ft
- Spread
- 1 ft
- Bloom
- May–Oct · blue, purple
- Foliage
- Deciduous or dies back in winter
- Soil
- Recorded on loam, moist, saline, sand, well drained
- Wildlife
- Supports bees, birds, butterflies and hummingbirds
Where it grows
Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:
Balcones CanyonlandsEdwards Plateau WoodlandNorthern Blackland PrairieFloodplains and Low Terraces
76 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).
Can you buy it?
Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.