Early Meadow Rue

Perennial  •  $6, 4-inch pot

• 

• 

Height	1 to 2 ft
Spacing	1 ft
Sun Exposure	Part Sun to Shade
Soil Moisture	Medium-Wet to Medium-Dry
Bloom Color	Yellow-Green
Bloom Time	April, May
Companion Plantings	Lady Fern, Maidenhair Fern, Virginia Bluebells, Dutchman’s Breeches
Special Attributes

Thalictrum dioicum

Early Meadow Rue is often grown for its attractive, delicate foliage, which has a similar appearance to Columbine as it emerges in spring. It is also valued for its ability to adapt to drier shaded sites. Because this plant doesn’t go dormant like many other spring-blooming wildflowers, it would do well among woodland ephemerals, like Virginia Bluebells or Dutchman’s Breeches, where it can fill in as these other plants fade away by early summer. This plant prefers light shade but can adapt to part sun with relatively consistent soil moisture.

Thalictrum dioicum is dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants. Both types of flowers are petal-less and around a quarter-inch wide; female flowers have thicker finger-like white stamens and the greenish-yellow male flowers dangle downward. This plant is wind-pollinated – and thus no need to be very showy. Early Meadow Rue is nonetheless a relatively significant host plant and around a dozen caterpillar species in the Southern Indiana/Louisville area feed on its foliage, including the Canadian Owlet moth (pictured), which can only feed on Thalictrum spp.

Related Plants