Yellow Thistle
Cirsium horridulum
Yellow thistle is a bold native thistle with large, spiny-collared yellow (sometimes pink-purple) flower heads in spring, a magnet for bees and butterflies and a seed source for goldfinches. A dramatic, deer-proof native. Like other thistles, the peeled stems and roots have been eaten, a relative of cultivated cardoon.
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- annual
- Height
- 1–4 ft
- Spacing
- 1–2 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- moist, dry
- Soil pH
- alkaline, neutral
- Bloom
- May, June, July, August
- Bloom colors
- pink, yellow
- Wildlife value
- butterflies, hummingbirds, pollinators, songbirds
- Landscape uses
- naturalizing
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DE, FL, GA, LA, MA, MD, ME, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA