19 BLUE Wildflowers Found in South Dakota! (ID GUIDE)
Did you find a BLUE wildflower in South Dakota?
If so, I’m sure you’re wondering what type of wildflower you found! Luckily, you can use this guide to help you identify it. 🙂
Today, we will look at 19 common BLUE wildflowers in South Dakota.
#1. Heal-All
- Prunella vulgaris
Also known as Common Self-heal, Woundwort, Heart-of-the-earth, Carpenter’s Herb, Brownwort, or Blue Curls.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-9
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 6-12″ (15-30cm)
- Bloom Time: Late Spring-Late Fall
- Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade
This blue wildflower is one of the most common in South Dakota.
You will find this purplish-blue wildflower on roadsides, gardens, and on the edge of woodlands.
You can even EAT Heal-all! Some people use it in salads, soups, stews, or boiled as a potherb. In addition, this mint plant has been used by many cultures to treat various physical ailments such as herpes, skin lesions, and throat remedies.
This plant attracts butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. As a result, it is often used as a ground cover on border fronts, meadows, and naturalized landscapes.
#2. Bachelor’s Button
- Centaurea cyanus
Also known as Cornflower.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 2-4
- Life Cycle: Annual
- Approximate mature size: 1-3′ (30-90cm)
- Bloom Time: Late Spring-Late Summer
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Light Shade
I think this is one of the prettiest blue wildflowers in South Dakota.
This common plant is a magnet for butterflies. In addition, it’s excellent for cutting and drying.
The Bachelor’s Button flowers are daisy-like and virtually pest and disease-free. And can you believe they are also deer and drought tolerant?! I recommend this easy-to-grow plant for borders of flower beds or rock gardens.
#3. Chicory
- Cichorium intybus
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-10
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 1-4′ (30-120 cm)
- Bloom Time: Summer, Fall
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun
This non-native blue wildflower is found throughout South Dakota. Typically you will find this plant where it’s sunny and dry, so look for it along roads and open fields.
The exciting thing about Chicory is it is eatable. The leaves are high in vitamins and minerals. You can eat the leaves as a vegetable or in a salad, but beware, they are very bitter tasting. The roots can also be boiled and eaten with butter. Sometimes the root is roasted and ground as a substitute or additive to coffee.
Interestingly, Chicory flowers only bloom for ONE day. And in hot weather, the flower may only be open for a few hours!
#4. Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass
- Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Also known as Bermuda Blue-eyed Grass and Blue-eyed Grass.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-11
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 4-20″ (10-50 cm)
- Bloom Time: Late Spring-Early Summer
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun, Partial Sun
This blue wildflower is widespread and found throughout South Dakota. You will typically see this plant in moist meadows, damp fields, open woods, floodplain forests, sandy thickets, riverbanks, and roadsides.
The Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass is an excellent source of nectar and pollen. This makes this plant good for attracting butterflies, bees, and other insects. It also can attract songbirds because many birds eat these perennial seeds.
#5. Blue Vervain
- Verbena hastata
Also known as the American Vervain or Swamp Verbena.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-9
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 2-5′ (60-150cm)
- Bloom Time: Early Summer-Fall
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun
Look for this hardy and drought-resistant wildflower in plains, foothills, wet soils, ditches, shores, wet fields, and roadsides in South Dakota.
The Blue Vervain attracts native bees, honeybees, beneficial wasps, small butterflies, skippers, and moths. It is also a great host plant because the Verbena Moth and the Common Buckeye Butterfly caterpillars feed on the leaves.
#6. Common Blue Violet
- Viola sororia
Also known as Common Meadow Violet, Purple Violet, Woolly Blue Violet, Hooded Violet, and Wood Violet.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-10
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 6-10″ (15-25cm)
- Bloom Time: Mid-Spring-Late Summer
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun, Partial Sun
Some people consider this beautiful blue wildflower a weed in South Dakota!
Believe it or not, the Common Blue Violet can randomly start growing in the middle of your lawn. If it appears, it can attract mason bees, caterpillars, wild turkeys, rabbits, deer, doves, and ants. The ants are attracted to their seeds that are coated with protein.
Interestingly, this wildflower can self-fertilize inside the plant without opening. The seed capsules eventually turn upright, open, and SHOOT OUT their seeds as far as 9 feet away from the plant.
#7. Blue Toadflax
- Nuttallanthus canadensis
Also known as Canada Toadflax and Old-field Toadflax.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-8
- Life Cycle: Annual or Biennial
- Approximate mature size: 6-24″ (15-60 cm)
- Bloom Time: Early Spring, Early Fall
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun, Partial Shade
This blue wildflower prefers dry sandy soil in open areas such as grasslands, prairies, and roadsides in South Dakota.
Certain caterpillar species will eat this host plant’s leaves. In addition, bees and butterflies are attracted to the nectar of the Blue Toadflax.
#8. Creeping Bellflower
- Campanula rapunculoides
Also known as Rampion Bellflower.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-7
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 12-31″ (30-80cm)
- Bloom Time: Summer to Early Fall
- Sun Exposure: Partial Shade
You will find this perennial in a variety of habitats, such as fields, dry hills, meadows, deciduous and pine forests, roadsides, and along railroads.
Creeping Bellflower is native to Europe and western Siberia, brought to South Dakota. Unfortunately, it has become an extremely invasive weed and chokes out other plants.
Trying to eliminate it is nearly impossible because of its ability to multiply on its own. Each plant can produce 15,000 seeds and reproduce through its long tuberous root system. 🙁
#9. Bird’s Foot Violet
- Viola pedata
Also known as Mountain Pansy.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-8
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 4-10″ (10-25 cm)
- Bloom Time: Spring
- Sun Exposure: Fun Sun, Partial Sun
The Bird’s Foot Violet gets its name from the shape of its flowers. As the name suggests, some people think they resemble a bird’s foot.
You will typically find this blue wildflower on dry rocky or sandy soil, open fields, and open woods in South Dakota.
The Bird’s Foot Violet attracts bees and butterflies, which pollinate them. This blue wildflower would be a lovely addition to your rock garden.
#10. Blue Moon (Wild Blue Phlox)
- Phlox divaricata
Also known as Woodland Phlox, Sweet William’ Blue Moon’.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-8
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 10-20″ (25-50 cm)
- Bloom Time: Spring, Summer
- Sun Exposure: Partial Sun
This fragrant blue wildflower has beautiful rich white or blue flowers, and its stems are often hairy and sticky to the touch.
The Blue Moon would be an excellent accent to your flower beds and borders. They attract butterflies and hummingbirds and are deer resistant.
- RELATED: 28 Common Flowers That Attract HUMMINGBIRDS (Add to your yard TODAY!)
#11. Western Blue Flax
- Linum lewisii
Also known as Prairie Flax, Wild Flax, Lewis Flax, Lewis’s Flax, and Wild Blue Flax.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-9
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 1-3′ (30-90 cm)
- Bloom Time: Spring, Summer
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun, Partial Sun
The Western Blue Flax blooms for weeks from late spring to mid-summer, but you will notice the flowers open in the morning but are gone in the afternoon. This is because the blooms only last for one day!
This blue perennial has long and tough stem fibers, and the American Indians used them for ropes, cords, fishing lines, and nets.
#12. Blue Mistflower
- Conoclinium coelestinum
Also known as Wild Ageratum, Hardy Ageratum, Blue Boneset, and Eupatorium coelestinum.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 5-10
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 12-36″ (30-91 cm)
- Bloom Time: Year-round
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun, Partial Sun
The Blue Mistflower blooms will attract an enormous amount of bees and butterflies. However, be careful because this blue wildflower spreads rapidly and can become a nuisance.
Look for this blue wildflower in South Dakota’s moist soils, wet meadows, ditches, pond margins, and woodland edges.
#13. Spiderwort
- Tradescantia virginiana
Also known as the Virginia Spiderwort and Blue Jacket.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-9
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 10-24″ (25-61 cm)
- Bloom Time: Spring, Summer
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun, Partial Sun
In South Dakota, you will see Spiderwort on dry to medium but well-drained soils in fields, meadows, and woodland margins.
This perennial is great for a border for flower beds and is often an underutilized garden plant.
#14. Virginia Waterleaf
- Hydrophyllum virginianum
Also known as Eastern Waterleaf.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-8
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 1-2′ (30-60 cm)
- Bloom Time: Spring
- Sun Exposure: Shade, Partial Shade
The Virginia Waterleaf forms large groups in moist deciduous forests and spreads by reproducing along with underground roots (rhizomes).
This perennial attracts sweat bees and flies. But, unfortunately, their foliage is nibbled on by deer.
#15. Bottle Gentian
- Gentiana andrewsii
Also known as Closed Bottle Gentian and Closed Gentian.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-7
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 1-2′ (30-60 cm)
- Bloom Time: Summer, Fall
- Sun Exposure: Partial Sun
Look for this blue wildflower in prairies, along railroads, and in old fields in South Dakota.
You can grow the Bottle Gentian in your garden, but please do not dig it up from the wild.
This beautiful plant is known for its bottle-shaped flowers and always remains closed. One may wonder how they get pollinated? Bumblebees can force their way inside! Check out the video!
#16. Eastern Blue Star
- Amsonia tabernaemontana
Also known as Blue Star, Willow Amsonia, Blue Dogbane, and Willow Blue Star.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-9
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 12-36″ (30-90 cm)
- Bloom Time: Late Spring
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun, Partial Sun
This blue wildflower thrives in moist soils in South Dakota that are not soggy. Once established, this plant is drought tolerant. You will find Eastern Blue Star in open woods and roadsides.
This virtually pest-free perennial will attract butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden. But beware, contact with the milky sap may cause skin irritation.
#17. Long-spurred Violet
- Viola rostrata
Also known as Longspur Violet and Long-spurred Violet.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 3-8
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 4-8″ (10-20 cm)
- Bloom Time: Spring
- Sun Exposure: Partial Sun, Shade
Unlike other species of violet in South Dakota, this one doesn’t creep across the ground.
Look for this low-growing perennial in moist woodlands, meadows, and moist soils.
The Long-spurred Violet is often regarded as the first sign of spring. You may want to use this wildflower as a charming addition to your rock garden.
#18. Prairie Spiderwort
- Tradescantia occidentalis
Also known as Western Spiderwort and Spiderwort.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-9
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 10-24″ (25-60 cm)
- Bloom Time: Spring, Summer
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun, Partial Sun, Shade
This grass-like plant with exotic-looking blue flowers is found in South Dakota’s plains, foothills, sandy ridges, meadows, fields, and roads.
The Prairie Spiderwort blooms continuously with eye-catching blue flowers. Unfortunately, most flowers are gone by noon. Nevertheless, many native bees value this wildflower.
#19. Pasque flower
- Pulsatilla patens
Also known as Prairie Pasqueflower, Eastern Pasque Flower, Eastern Meadow Anemone, Eastern Prairie Smoke, American Pasqueflower, Prairie Crocus, and Windflower.
Growing Information
- USDA Hardiness Zone: All Life Zones
- Life Cycle: Perennial
- Approximate mature size: 4-10″ (10-25 cm)
- Bloom Time: Early Spring
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun
Please advise all parts of the Pasque Flower contain poisonous compounds, which can cause blisters in your nose and mouth. This is one wildflower you don’t want to sniff!
This blue-flowered perennial is found in dry soil such as prairies. It also has seed-like fruit with feathery, plume-like hairs that carry seeds away on the wind.
Do you need more help identifying blue wildflowers in South Dakota?
Check out this guide!
Which of these blue wildflowers have you seen before in South Dakota?
Leave a comment below!
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