Lysimachia punctata

Loosestrife of the purple variety is a scourge. But loosestrife of the yellow variety is welcome in July. This pretty yellow, starlike flower does spread (as does every plant, eventually) but slowly.

It's more shrub-like and like its neighbor in my garden, the orange daylily, survives the salt and sand from the winter plowing.

The one downside of this plant is that it attracts this bluish-gray caterpillar after it blooms. The caterpillar, if left unmolested, will strip all the leaves from the plant. I try to cut the yellow loosestrife back to the ground when the caterpillars appear to try to interrupt their life cycle.

But even if I don't, the lysimachia punctata will return in the spring.