Learn / Ask The Landscape Professional
Linda, could you please help identify this plant? Thanks, Gary
Answer
Certainly. The plant in your picture is Physostegia virginiana or
Obedient Plant, also known as False Dragonhead. This plant is a
member of the Mint family and is actually a native plant seen from
the east coast of the US and Canada to the Midwest. It is called
Obedient Pant because the individual flowers can be turned to aim
in almost any direction and they stay where you pointed them! The native species of this plant can be
quite invasive and spreads by rhizomes which are underground stems that send out roots and shoots
at nodes along the stem. Fortunately, in recent years there have been a number of improved cultivars
created that are clumpers or slow spreaders and are not invasive.
It is a plant that blooms throughout the summer into the fall with white,
pink or purpleish flowers. Obedient plant can grow up to
4 feet tall and 3 feet wide and may need staking to
keep it upright. It is pollinated by hummingbirds,
butterflies and bees and is reportedly deer
resistant. It can grow in a variety of garden
conditions, but prefers full sun and moist but
well drained soil. It is also an excellent choice
for containers.
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About Linda Lillie
Linda K. Lillie is the President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc, the premier
landscape design and maintenance, tree care, lawn care, stonework, and carpentry
service provider in southeastern Connecticut since 1997. She is a graduate of
Connecticut College in Botany, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national
award winning landscape designer for her landscape design and landscape installation work.
