PlantFiles: Prairie Smoke, 3-Flower Avens, Purple Avens, Old Man's Beard
Geum triflorum

We garden in zone 6. I have 3 year old prairie smoke plants. They have never "poofed" much. They flower well and spread generously, but they don't get the "bad hair day" look that is so charming about them. Also, one plant which seems ok in other ways is a lighter green and droops more quickly in heat.

I've successfully transplanted Geum triflorum into one of my mulched bed from a very generous plant trader.

The plants stayed evergreen throughout my zone 7b winter, successfully in our winter wet conditions. The foliage is a bit fuzzy and grows in a rosette.

This year they flowered and the buds seem to stay closed. The petals don't flare out. They started flowering in early spring, through spring frost and the flowers remain now, unfaded, which is April 18th.

I've found that the plants flower better and grow stronger in part sun, maybe even more sun, than the plants that were shaded by my Campanula.

Beautiful early spring wildflower, that adds color for many weeks as first there are the deep pink flowers (as a kid we called them wild bleeding hearts), then the seed heads form and are pink and green then almost golden, they do indeed in a large group look like smoke over the land.

Prairie Smoke grows wild here in Zone 4b in the margins of the sandy, reforested pine areas along the Wisconsin River. In the spring, it's not uncommon to find large, mostly shaded, areas covered with the pink, airy, hair-like flowers of this plant. When a person finally notices them, one can't help but stop and smile at their appearance. They have that "bad hair day-look," something like the little "troll" dolls that once were so popular. Quite an eye-opening experience.

~julie~

This pretty little wildflower is native to Saskatchewan. In the SE part it is protected and we are not supposed to even pick the flowers. As the area was settled and the land was broken for farming many of the native plants disappeared. Now there are certain areas set aside to remain in their natural state. There is one such preserve on the edge of the city wher I live.(Weyburn, Sask. Can) It is called Tatagwa Parkway and we can wander about and see the native plants. We called these plants crocuses when we were kids and always took a bouquet home to mother.