Featured Plant: (Not so) Obedient Plant - Physostegia virginiana
Friday August 8, 2008
Most late season flowers burst into blooms of deep golds, russets and rich purples. Not obedient plant. This charmer has soft, pastel blossoms in pink, lavender and white. It gets its common name of obedient plant from the ability of the individual flowers to be bent and remain in position - not because it’s so well-behaved in the garden. Let’s face it, obedient plant can become a garden thug if you don’t keep tabs on it. Still, many gardeners give in to its charms. See if the snapdragon like flowers of obedient plant are something you’d like to add to your garden.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti (2008) licensed to About.com, Inc.
Comments
We had a good rain storm about three weeks ago that caused every growth of my obedient plant to lean over, touching the ground. It never did recover. It’s still pretty – it’s just that most of the blooms are touching the ground. It’s fun to see the hummingbirds swoop down, near ground level, to get the sweet nectar.
I had the same thing happen one year with lupines. I kind of liked it though, because instead of blooming from the bottom up, it now looked like it was blooming from the top down. And in interesting twisted shapes.
My obedient plant hasn’t grown a bit. In fact, it looks like it’s shrunk. It’s kind of scraggly looking with few blooms. It’s in partial shade in zone 8B. I wish mine would try to take over instead of looking so unhappy. I may move it somewhere else and see if that helps.
It is invasive. I have to spend a few spring weekends digging out some of the plants to leave room for my Althea, phlox and coneflowers. It is starting to bloom now here in central south Texas.