Handsome Harry

Year-round

Handsome Harry is a native wetland wildflower for the Ouachita Mountains area, closely related to Maryland meadowbeauty and needing the same kind of consistently moist, acidic site.

• Native to Arkansas and much of eastern North America in moist, often acidic open ground, per the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
• Grows about 2 feet tall with rose-pink, four-petaled flowers in loose clusters.
• Needs a consistently moist to wet site, a rain garden or pond margin works, an ordinary dry bed does not.
• Blooms June through August, with each flower lasting about a day.
• Spreads slowly by rhizomes in a favorable wet site.
• Bees that buzz-pollinate the flowers do most of the pollinating.

Like its Rhexia mariana relative, keeping it inside a defined rain garden or wet-edge bed helps the colony read as planned rather than as a soggy, weedy patch.

Fall

Fall brings seed set and natural dieback as the growing season winds down toward Hot Springs' average first frost in late October.

• Seed capsules form after summer bloom, leave them in place to mature and self-sow.
• Foliage yellows and begins dying back with shorter days and cooler nights.
• No need to cut back before frost, the dying top growth still feeds the rhizomes.
• Fine to let the first frost near late October finish it off naturally, this perennial dies back every year.
• Note how well the site held moisture through the season, and adjust before next year if it fell short.

Winter

Handsome Harry dies back to its rhizomes for the mild Ouachita Mountains winter and needs little beyond a cleanup cut.

• Top growth dies back fully to the ground after frost, cut back dead stems anytime over winter.
• Rhizomes overwinter without protection in Hot Springs' Zone 7b to 8a climate.
• Keep the site from drying out over winter, it remains a wetland species even while dormant.
• A warm winter spell bringing up early growth is not usually harmful.
• A good time to plan or expand a wet-site bed for the next growing season.

Spring

Spring is when Handsome Harry resprouts from its rhizomes in Hot Springs, and the main task is confirming the site is still wet enough heading into the growing season.

• New growth appears after Hot Springs' last frost, typically late March to early April.
• Confirm the site still holds consistent moisture this time of year, this species declines quickly in a spot that dries out.
• Divide and transplant rhizomes now if establishing a new patch.
• Skip fertilizer in a naturally wet, organic soil.
• Slower emergence during a cool spring is normal.

Summer

Summer is bloom time for Handsome Harry, and Hot Springs' heat and humidity suit it fine as long as the roots never dry out.

• Rose-pink flowers open in succession from June through August.
• Keep soil consistently moist through Hot Springs' hottest, driest weeks in July and August.
• A brief dry-out during a heat wave is the main risk to the planting in summer.
• Bees do most of the pollinating, visiting to collect pollen from the anthers.
• No common pest or disease issues turn up in a properly wet site.