Rhexia

Rhexia virginica, the meadow beauty, is a native perennial of particular distinction for Martha's Vineyard's seasonally moist, acidic, sandy garden settings, producing vivid rose-pink flowers in midsummer that are among the most intensely colored blooms available in the island's native flora. It thrives in the wet-to-moist, sandy, acidic soils found along the margins of the island's freshwater ponds and in the seasonally wet depressions of coastal heathland properties in Edgartown, Chilmark, and Aquinnah. The plant's preference for lean, infertile, moisture-retaining sandy soils makes it an authentic choice for naturalistic plantings in the island's sandplain communities and rain garden designs.

Deer generally leave it undisturbed. Estate Care professionals incorporate meadow beauty into ecologically focused pond-edge and rain garden programs on island properties where native authenticity, seasonal moisture tolerance, and late-summer color are all design requirements.