Moist open ground of all kinds (moist fields, shores/borders of swamps, trails and clearings in swamps); also in moist forests, coniferous swamps, and crevices of rocky shores along Lake Superior. Often in more or less calcareous settings, and especially abundant in areas underlain by limestone or dolomite. 

The glaucous clumps of this somewhat weedy species are a commion feature of moist successional meadows in much of the state.