Miami mist is a native annual of mountain and Piedmont stream edges in the eastern and central United States, named not for the Florida city but for the Miami people of the Great Lakes region and the Great Miami River basin in Ohio. It grows 1 to 2 feet tall, sometimes erect, sometimes sprawling, and flowers in spring through early summer with lavender to light blue blooms in characteristic scorpioid clusters. The flowers have fringed petal edges and pale centers that give the plant its misty, airy quality even at close range.

It prefers full sun to partial shade in fertile, well-drained, moist soils, and though it tolerates wet spots it performs best away from boggy conditions. Propagation is by seed sown directly in fall or early spring. After blooming, small capsules form with 2 to 4 seeds and the plant completes its cycle and dies, but self-seeding ensures a returning colony. Plant it in naturalized meadow edges, along the margins of ponds or streams, or in mass groupings where its delicate flowers can build into a substantial seasonal display for early pollinators.