- Approximate height: 90 - 100cm (36 - 39 inches)
- Recommended water depth over crown of plant: 0 - 5cm (0 - 2 inches)
- Flowering time: July to August
- Flower colour: Yellow
- Supplied in the solid 1 litre pot we grow them in - for best results we recommend potting on using a 2 litre pot
A British native plant with simple light-green lanceolate leaves and clusters of lovely yellow flowers, found in the wild in wet places such as marshes, river banks, wet woodland, ponds, lakes and ditches. Despite having the same common name, Yellow Loosestrife it is actually not closely related to Purple Loosestrife. However, in the wild they are often found growing and flowering together, and certainly their similar heights but different flower colours make a very pleasing contrast in a native planting scheme. And like Purple Loosestrife, Yellow Loosestrife is beloved by bees and butterflies. While naturally quite a tall plant, trimming the shoots back once or twice in spring before it flowers can bring it down to a much shorter height if desired, without impairing its ability to produce its blooms.
Yellow Loosestrife is robust, hardy, easy to grow, attractive, and easy to flower. However, once established it will produce long thin runners along the surface of the water/soil. These runners are not particularly fast or woody, but they can travel surprisingly far. Unlike some other marginal plants, keeping it in a pot will not stop it from spreading, because the runners creep over the top of the pot instead of coming out from among the roots. This habit can make it useful for competing with weeds etc in a natural pond, but if you are growing it in a situation where you do not want it to spread, we would advise keeping it in a pot, and checking the pot and trimming the runners off periodically.
It should not be confused with the standard garden yellow loosestrife, Lysimachia punctata, which is a non-native species usually found in drier soils.
If designing a planting scheme, we recommend approximately 1 Lysimachia vulgaris plant per square foot of ground or per linear foot of pond edge. Read more here on how to pot and care for your plant.