Wildflower Wednesday: Phacelia bipinnatifida and Love at First Sight

 It really was love at first sight.  

Who could resist the lavender-blue flowers with deeply divided, mottled fern-like leaves that bloom in early spring and attracts bees? Those leaves alone are worth having in your garden. They have lighter, grayish-green, or silvery, watermark-like blotches and can develop a purple tinge in late fall/winter. 

My little naturalized colony at its best

It's been so long ago that I can't remember when I added Phacelia bipinnatifida to the garden but, I remember quite clearly the first time I saw a naturally occurring colony on a shady damp hillside. I was going to visit a new friend's garden and was driving up her steep drive, as I turned a bend in the drive every where I looked Purple Phacelia was blooming and bees were dancing from flower to flower. There's something splendid about natives that mass naturally, and this was a dazzling and magical pollinator show.

My little Phacelia colony waxes and wanes from year to year. Purple phacelia/Phacelia bipinnatifida is a biennial wildflower in the Hydrophyllaceae (Waterleaf) family that is native to the southeast USA. Biennials require two growing seasons to complete their life-cycle. The first year is vegetative growth; the second year, they flower and produce seed and shortly after, they die. They're usually quite prolific and will set seed, but, you'll only have flowers every other year. If you want to have blooms every year, you've got to put a little bit of effort into making that happen.

 

Let's get more detailed about what that effort looks like.

When you are trying to get a biennial established it's important to remember: One year from seed, second year to flower, then it dies. To have flowers every year you have to get a colony started, so you need seeds, first year plants and flowering plants. I really was lucky to be given several plants in bloom and many first year seedlings. Here's how it works! Those first flowers were visited by Bumble bees and other pollinators and got fertilized, they set seed and then died. The fallen seeds germinated and over wintered; the following spring the original first year seedlings bloomed and their flowers were fertilized, set seed, and then died. It's not a complicated process, but it's a brilliant cycle that continues to this day.  

 

I make sure the cycle is not interrupted. Which means that I collect the seeds, and sprinkle them where I want new plants, sometimes I move the tiny seedlings, the first year plants and even the second year plants in late winter to make the colony larger. They always seem to survive!

 

If you're lucky it forms self seeding colonies that are simply stunning. 

 As all gardeners know, some years are better then others and this is a lean year. Lean because we've had a several years of low rainfall right when the seeds need moisture to germinate. I've watered enough so that I have flowers every year, but, I will be doubling my efforts this year to reinvigorate my little colony. To insure  the  colony will make it through the deluge/drought pattern Middle Tennessee has settled into, I'll hand water them during the severely dry times.

Bees and other pollinators that are out and about on warm days love Phacelia. It has wildlife value and supports  the following specialized bees: Andrena (Micrandrena) lamelliterga, Andrena (Euandrena) phaceliae, Hoplitis (Robertsonella) simplex.

tightly coiled inflorescence in bud

I am honestly not disappointed that it's a lean year. Especially when I see proof that it's  providing for a lot of early spring visitors. I don't have hillsides of Phacelia, that requires much moister soil than I can give it, but, where it's blooming it shines. 

 

 To successfully grow our Wildflower star give it part-shade, shade, moisture, (it can take some dryness) in acid, neutral, average loam. It won't turn it's noise up at rich moist, well draining soil! 

 There are a few online nurseries that sell Purple Phacelia just do a web search. Or if you're lucky and can find a friend with seedlings to share, you can start your own journey to having a colony of flowers that pollinators adore. I hope that post like this open eyes to the beauty of Phacelia. 

 

 The Particulars

 Botanical name: Phacelia  bipinnatifida

Common names: Purple Phacelia, Fernleaf Phacelia, Fernleaf Scorpion Weed, Spotted Phacelia, Loose-flowered Phacelia

Family: Hydrophyllaceae (Waterleaf) family, also sometimes classified in Borage family

Life Cycle: Biennial

Distribution: AL , AR , GA , IA , IL , IN , KY , MD , MO , MS , NC , OH , PA , SC , TN , VA , WV

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b  

Height: 1 ft. 0 in. - 3 ft. 0 in. 

Width: 1 ft. 0 in. - 3 ft. 0 in. 

Light: Dappled Sunlight (Shade through upper canopy all day) Deep shade (Less than 2 hours to no direct sunlight) Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours) Full sun if mesic soil.

Soil:  Adaptable-clay, shallow rocky, loamy, sandy and/or high organic matter. PH acidic and neutral. Moisture-well draining and moist  

Flower description: Racemes of 4-12 blue to purple flowers are produced from March through April/May. Individual flowers are 1/2 inch across cup shaped with 5-lobed corolla, 5 sepals, 5 stamens, a slender style, and an ovary. The racemes occur at the top of stems with some secondary ones forming in the axils of the upper stems.  

Color: Blue/Purple/Lavender  

Bloom Time: Spring. March in middle Tennessee.

Propagation: I collect seed by placing a tray with potting soil under the blooming flower. I let most self sow. Seeds ripen shortly after blooming. I let natural rain fall water the seeds and they germinate when temperatures cool in the fall and through the winter. I usually don't notice seedlings until March. Some folks say that the seed needs to be sown fresh, but I am going to try to collect it and place in the refrigerator to see if it will grow when sown later.

 

Surface sowing is always successful and in my garden fallen leaves don't seem to keep them from germinating, so prehaps light isn;t a requirement.

Wildlife Value:  Phacelia support the following specialized bees: Andrena (Micrandrena) lamelliterga, Andrena (Euandrena) phaceliae, Hoplitis (Robertsonella) simplex.
   
Comments: Deer and bunny safe. This is a plant that should be in every shady garden. Find a friend who will share a few seedlings. Phacelia bipinnatifida should be allowed plenty of room in a naturalistic, woodland setting to move around as it wishes. If you want to maintain it in precise spots, transplant seedlings in the fall to preferred locations. 

My thoughts: When it comes to wildflowers almost all the attention centers on perennials. They're marvelous investment plants that you can count on to make a good show in your garden year after year, but, you might want to consider adding a few annuals and biennials that are native to your part of the garden world. They're charming plants and add another dimension to the garden~many of the seedlings and first year plant's foliage is quite attractive. (Gardeners, Do Yourself A Big Favor)

Thanks for reading! xoxogail


 

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday.  This day is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. How they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.

 

 Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.