Obedient Plant ~ a plant with a bad reputation
Obedient Plant (Physotegia virginiana) gets a bad rap for being ‘aggressive’ in small gardens. But really it is about the basic rule of gardening RIGHT PLANT in in the RIGHT PLACE!
Read on friend to see how WONDERFUL this natural hummingbird feeder is in the home garden!
Need a bit of ‘pop’ in your shade garden? Hmm how about one that is also a groundcover AND is a favorite of hummingbirds?
Look to Physotegia virginiana to do the job! From July into Autumn, ‘light torches’ of pink rise 2-4’ above clumping mounds of green.
Quick Plant Deets:
Native Perennial
Grows up to 3-4’ tall 2’ wide
Moist to Average Water Needs
Drought tolerant once established
Deer & Rabbit Resistant
Blooms late Summer into Autumn
Why is it called Obedient Plant?
The flowers do what you tell them! Each flower head is made of tiny pink -purple tubular flowers filled with nectar that stay where you turn them.
That’s if you can get past the hummingbirds and bumblebees who can’t resist these pretty nectar filled blooms!
Seriously – we have a patch by deck steps and it’s like walking through a pollinator SUPER highway!
Flowers clustered like dozens of MINI snapdragons or foxglove?!? YES PLEASE!
THIS PLANT IS FOR POLLINATORS!
Long tongue native bees, butterflies and hummingbirds LOVE these nectar rich blooms.
Obedient Plant has an undeserved reputation as being aggressive.
But really Mother Nature is just trying to feed as many pollinators as fast as she can!
And in our habitat gardening practice, let's admit it we’re trying to both mimic and control Nature to fit in small spaces. Moving plants here and there while being mindful of the needs of wildlife yet also of the space we need for different activities. It’s a challenge friend.
That’s why ‘RIGHT PLANT in the RIGHT PLACE’ helps us not ‘stress out’ about our gardening adventures.
Let’s look at Obedient Plant’s ‘happy place’…
and how to grow it in a home garden.
Obedient Plant is VERY happy in moist soils in full to partial sun. Spreading by seed & rhizomes it quickly creates a native groundcover that suppresses weeds. But it's also happy in medium to dry soils that can help to contain its spread in smaller gardens.
In the wild, Obedient Plant would have COMPETITION to keep it in check.
Other native species like the Monardas, Penstemons, Rudbeckias, and many grasses would naturally crowd the low growing foliage and compete with the roots of the Obedient Plant.
Top tips for growing Obedient Plant in smaller spaces:
Trim faded blooms BEFORE the seeds form!
Fewer seeds = fewer plants. BUT you’ll also get MORE flowers from second for a second flush of blooms.
Remove volunteers (seedlings) in Spring.
Since the Obedient Plant grows in small clumps they are easy to remove & transplant in Spring. Simply give to friends, donate to a plant sale or grow in other areas of the garden.
Grow in Containers
Many natives will do fine growing in containers. Obedient Plant REALLY enjoys them- just water as needed.
Choose a larger container with fabric over the drainage holds to keep those roots in check!
Don’t forget to cut those blooms
Not so aggressive after all…
Obedient Plant is an native that will abundantly grow as Nature intended. As with most native plants labeled agressive… Nature has a reason. Nature uses the ‘colonizing’ plants to rapidly fills bare soils to feed & support pollinators and wildlife.
To do so — native plants must quickly reseed, grow and populate those exposed soils. Obedient Plant is merely trying to do what Nature intended. Sustain wildlife & cover moist bare soils.
As home gardeners creating habitat sustaining gardens that follow Nature’s lead. And that includes understanding how to use native plants deemed ‘aggressive’ as Nature intended and label them as ‘bad plants’ just because they won’t be obedient to our needs for a ‘tidy garden’…
