Tags
false dragonshead, Obedience, Obedient Plant 'Crown Rose', Physostegia virginiana 'Crown Rose', Thursday's Feature
My Obedient Plant, Physostegia virginiana ‘Crown Rose’, began to bloom last week, with tall spires of pretty lavender-pink blossoms. 
Obedient Plant, Physostegia virginiana, is also known as simply Obedience and False Dragonhead. Rated hardy from Zone 4, it is a sun-loving perennial that blooms in mid-summer when many flowers are finishing up and the later bloomers haven’t yet begun. It will bloom for about a month. Its water needs are average, and it will tolerate dry conditions once established. It does well in average soil; I’ve read that in soil that is too rich, the plants may become floppy. 
Destructive insects and other wildlife pass by Obedient Plant in my garden. The bumblebees love it, though! It’s fun to watch them burrow in and out of each individual flower on a spike. 
Obedient Plant can grow tall; mine range from thirty to forty-three inches. The front of my Terrace Garden is the wrong place for it, as it blocks the view of the plants behind it. 
The only potential drawback to Physostegia virginiana is its aggressive tendency to spread. What you see here started three years ago as four very small plants! I understand that there are cultivars available that form neat, well-contained clumps. ‘Crown Rose’ is not one of those. It spreads quickly via rhizomes. Every year I heartlessly yank out several shoots to keep it from overtaking all that surrounds it! It can also spread via seed, so I try hard to cut the flower spikes as soon as the blossoms fade!
If you have a spot that you can devote to a large en masse planting, I think this Obedient Plant would be just the ticket! 
If you have a plant you would like to highlight on a Thursday, or any other day, please feel free to join me. It’s simple; just leave a comment here with a link to your site, and link back to my site within your own post. I look forward to seeing what other people feature this week!
Cosmos and Cleome 
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I don’t exactly know why, but this plant is one of my favorites to see in a garden. Somehow I managed to kill the pink one I had but someone else gave me the variegated one and it’s even better (says someone who loves nearly anything variegated). Did you know the common name ‘obedient plant’ comes from the way you can bend the flower stalks into position and they stay there? I was never able to get my flowers to be obedient but apparently others have. Let me know if it works for you!
Two asides… Santa Rosa is still on sale and I just got a 25% off on top of that coupon, and my favorite valley nursery is 33% off through the weekend so if you’re down this way 🙂
Here’s my link, I’m a little late but hopefully it still counts for Thursday! https://katob427.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/thursdays-feature-cyclamen-purpurascens/
I love this plant in a garden, as well. I don’t really have enough sun for it, although there is a spot near the back of the lot that has become a little more sunny since a neighbor took out some trees. I will have to consider it. It’s such a beautiful bloomer!
This is a very pretty plant Kimberley. I am thinking of trying to grow it here, but am now a little worried it might spread too much. Is it easy to remove if it does get ambitious? Will try and join in again next week! 🙂
It’s a lovely flowers. I like its pink spikes.
This plant wouldn’t work for me and my small yard area, but what a pretty flower it has. Also, I’d like a plant that obeys me for a change, instead of the other way around.
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