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Plant profile · Austin & Hill Country

Leavenworth's Eryngo

Eryngium leavenworthii
native · Hill Country

Leavenworth's Eryngo is an annual wildflower native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 1–3 ft tall and 2 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low water, and handles caliche and clay soil. Blooms blue and purple in Jul–Sep. Deer rarely browse it. Good for bees, birds, butterflies and nectar insects.

Will it grow in your yard?

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The facts

4 sources
Type
Annual wildflower
Sun
Full sun to part shade (4–8 hrs of direct sun)
Water
Low
Height
1–3 ft
Spread
2 ft
Bloom
Jul–Sep · blue, purple
Foliage
Deciduous or dies back in winter
Soil
Takes caliche and clay · recorded on calcareous, caliche, clay, dry, loam, moist, rocky, sand
Deer
High — deer rarely browse it
Wildlife
Supports bees, birds, butterflies and nectar insects

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Llano UpliftEdwards Plateau WoodlandNorthern Blackland PrairieLimestone Cut Plain

636 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.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.