By Grace Broyles
Big Country Master Gardener
Wanting some color and height in your late summer/fall garden? Or some cut flowers for a vase in your kitchen window or dining room table? Then it’s the Fall Obedient Plant that could fulfill your desires. This native wildflower is rarely seen around our area of West Texas, but would be a welcome addition to the waning colors in the landscape at this time of year.
Obedient Plants are in the mint family, having stems that are four-sided, and the flowers look similar to those of Snapdragons. It is also called False Dragonhead, probably because of the way the flower’s top tips over like a little dragonhead. And if you want to call it by its botanical name, then it’s Physostegia, or if wanting to use a different name, then you can call it Lion’s Heart. It is most often called Obedient Plant here, named so because its stem keeps its position for a long time when bent into a new position.
Texas boasts several native varieties of this plant that is native over much of North America, but the Physostegia virginiana is the most common. It is found in wet meadows, thickets and upland forested areas, and in some barren spaces. The Obedient Plant produces pink, lavender, or white tubular flowers on 2-7 foot stems that begin to open and continue to develop and open upwards on the sturdy stems. For a second bloom, these first flowerheads can be snipped off, so others will fill in to provide color lasting further into the season.
Obedient plants are happiest in full sun, but can handle partial shade, and even full shade, especially in our hot summers. They will grow in all kinds of soil, but do best in healthy well-draining soils. However, when the first frost comes, Obedient plants succumb and the foliage dies off. Happily, they are perennials, and will reappear once soil temperatures warm up in the spring.
Obedient plants spread by rhizomes, and when conditions are optimal, do so quite aggressively. They grow in clumps which can easily be controlled with a sharpshooter. To help keep the plants contained to an area, they should not be fertilized, unless there are signs of nutrient deficiency.
When these plants mature, they flop open and leave a thinned-out center. This is the ideal time to divide them and this can be done when temperatures cool in the fall, or in the spring after they reappear and have produced some sturdy young stems.
Obedient plants can also be propagated from seed. The seeds from a mature plant can be harvested when the flowers have faded and are dried. Then the seeds need to be stratified for a few months at 40 degrees before being sprinkled in a designated area. Or for a more controlled planting, 2 or 3 seeds may be planted just below the soil surface in a group, and covered lightly with soil. The seeds take about a week or so to germinate. When the new little plants are several inches tall, they can be transplanted into a garden space or a special planter or raised bed. This can be done in early fall, or after last frost in the spring.
The plant may also be propagated from cuttings that need to be about 4 – 6 inches long, and dipped in a rooting hormone before being placed in moist porous soil in a well-lit location for several weeks for roots and new leaves to form.
To control the aggressive growth of this plant on your property, it is wise to plant in a designated pot, or in a bed that has an edging at least 4 inches deep so the rhizomes cannot grow beyond it.
This plant has few pest issues or disease issues. Even the deer do not like it.
Sometimes aphids or spider mites may invade, but they are easily removed with a strong blast of water, or use of neem oil or insecticidal soap. All leaves that may show rust or black spot fungus should quickly be removed if found.
For those of us who are interested in providing for our pollinating insects, this is a wonderful addition for the insects who live through the summer and into late fall. Bumblebees, native bees, hummingbirds and Sphinx moths are all happy to suck up the nectar found in the flowers.
If you have any questions about gardening and plants, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at mgardeners@yahoo.com. We hope you visit bcmgtx.org for information on all Big Country Master Gardener events, like us on BCMGA Facebook, and check out training presentations on BCMGA YouTube. We are here to help you.
