Our native Obedient plant (False Dragonhead) is important late-summer bloomer

Late summer is the time for our Obedient plant to go into full gear in the garden bringing in the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds with its soft lavender spikes of flowers on three-four-foot stalks.

Some people are quick to call these fall performers aggressive and invasive, I prefer to call them what they are – great plants that are happy to fill in any open spaces in the garden but are super easy to remove if they get into areas where you really don’t want them. They can be important late-summer bloomers for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds looking for the last sources of nectar before the cold weather hits.

If you are looking for more information on growing native flowers, you might be interested in going to my comprehensive article: Why we should use native plants in our gardens.

For more on photographing flowers in your garden, check out my comprehensive post on Flower Photography in Your Garden.

A bumble bee works the Obedient plant in late summer.

Why are they called Obedient Plant?

With what we already know about this plant’s behaviours, “obedient” seems the perfect description of this native plant.

However, the plants earned that name, not for any of the reasons described above, but for the uncanny ability the blossoms have of remaining in place after being turned in any direction. Great fun for kids but of little value in the garden accept maybe to turn them in the direction of the light to photograph them.

The plant (Physostegia virginiana), is actually a member of the Lamiaceae (Mint Family) and goes by a number of given names including: False Dragonhead and Virginia Lions-heart. Obedient plant, being a member of the mint family, sports the square stems common to the plant family.

Obedient plant can be attractive to both pollinators and humans in our gardens with its showy purple flowers in late summer early fall.

Is Obedient plant easy to get established?

Like many native plants, this perennial is easy to establish and maintain.

In our garden, Obedient plant grows with abandon in a sunny area beside our patio. Although it spreads aggressively by stolons, it’s important to remember that it is also easy to keep in check. Its shallow roots are especially easy to pull out by hand in our sandy soil.

I tend to let plants find their own way and compete for their own space, not unlike the ground covers in our garden. Needless to say, Obedient plant often wins out, growing right up through the ground covers.

For most of the summer they go unnoticed, but by mid-August the 4-6 in. terminal spikes of lavender, tubular flowers – similar to snap dragons – begin showing the first signs of flowers. By the end of August they are in bloom and being visited by a host of native bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Light Requirement: Sun, Part Shade, Shade
Soil Moisture: Moist
Soil Description: Moist, humus-rich soils.

When does Obedient plant bloom?

Depending on where they are growing, they bloom in August, September, October and, in warmer climates, through to November.

Our flowers are lavender, but white and pink varieties are also available.

Where does Obedient plant grow?

These plants are found throughout the United States and parts of Canada growing naturally from Quebec to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas into northern Mexico.

In the wild, they can be found growing along river banks, in lowland wet thickets and swamps. These tough perennials will grow in sand, clay and limestone and are at home in areas of poor drainage.

Are Obedient plants easy to propogate?

These plants are easy to propopagate by division of roots or by seed. If you already have plants growing, I would definitely use the division method to increase your numbers and spread the clump forming plants around the sunny areas or your garden.

If you choose to plant seeds, you can sow them in fall or spring after a period of damp stratification (3 months at 40 degrees).