Wildflower Wednesday: Phyla lanceolata, aka Fog Fruit deserves a spot in your garden

Was it really 8 years ago that I first spotted lanceleaf fogfruit growing in the right of way along my busy street! 

 It's a seriously cute little Verbena cousin that ought to be in more native plant gardens and considering that it's native to almost all of the US (except for the dryer NW states), it's amazing to me that it's not readily available. If I had a pond or stream in my garden it would have a place of honor.

While fogfruit can tolerate some dry conditions, it does not thrive in my garden unless it's damp most of the time. Like other plants that I love but don't have the right conditions for, this one is growing in a container. 

If happy it will carpet the ground with attractive foliage that is accented in the summer with small clusters of pale lavender-pink flowers that attract bees and butterflies. It's semi-evergreen (depending upon the zone you're gardening in) and can tolerate heat and humidity, as well as cold winters. It is native to southeastern Canada, most of the United States southward into Mexico.

 

 

The sprawling stems can root on the ground (that's how it develops a mat) and the lance-shaped leaves that have tiny teeth on their edges and turn a reddish color in late fall or early winter. It blooms from late spring into early fall. ...that's about 6 months of bloom. The top of the cluster is purplish disc with the flowers whorling around the bottom. The individual flowers drop off leaving an attractive cluster of orange-brown fruits. 

I am not surprised that there are still wildflowers tucked away in the corners of this neighborhood. Seventy years ago this was a woodland/forest on the edge of the city and roads were bulldozed to build one of the city's first planned communities for the growing post war population.

When the developer's bulldozers were carving out roads they drove around big trees and left pockets of woodland/forest. It's in those forest remnants that I discovered beautiful wildflowers that I love: False Soloman's Seal, Spring Beauties, Rue Anemone, Trout-lily, False Garlic, Blue-eyed Grass, Wild Sweet William and Sweet Betsy. We've been lucky that they have never completely disappeared and each spring delight residents with their arrival.

Now I can add Fogfruit to the collection.  

There are still wildflowers and sedges in the verges and edges of many yards. I hope they stay safe from the developers who are now bull-dozing the suburban ranches to build houses that fill almost the entire lot. Lawns that have to be maintained by weed and feed every year are replacing the freedom lawns filled with Spring Beauties, wild Petunias, Fleabanes, Lyreleaf Sages, Oat grass and sedges.

Ignorance is killing the wildflowers.

 There's no weed and feed in my garden so wildflowers like Phyla lanceolata/Fogfruit are safe. It's blooming its cute little head off and I proclaim it the July Wildflower Wednesday star.

The inflorescence is a tight head, although, technically it's referred to as a spike

Let the celebration begin!
xoxogail

 

The Particulars

Botanical name: Phyla lanceolata  

Genus: Verbenaceae (Verbena)
 
Common native: Northern Fog Fruit, Lanceleaf fogfruit, some call it frogfruit, turkey tangle fogfruit

Perennial

Native: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WV 

Hardiness zone: 5 to 11 (yes 11)

Habitat: sun; moist soil; along shores, floodplains, muddy flats

Bloom season: June - September

Plant height: short, but stems stand up about 12 inches

Wetland Indicator Status: OBL/Obligate wetland, almost always occurs in wetlands.  FACW/Facultative wetland, usually occurs in wetlands, but occasionally found in non-wetlands.

Flower Color: The flowers are white to lavender, with two lips. The outer lip is lobed to appear as three petals.

Cultural Information: Cuttings, taken in late spring through the summer, root readily at the nodes.

Wildlife value: The nectar of the flowers attracts various insects, including bumblebees, leaf-cutting bees, Epeoline cuckoo bees, long-horned bees, green metallic bees and other Halictid bees, Syrphid flies, bee flies, thick-headed flies, Tachinid flies, small butterflies, and skippers. Some of the Halictid bees also collect pollen. The foliage and seedheads are eaten by Canada Geese.Doesn't appear to be grazed by deer or bunnies. Source: Illinois Wildflowers

Comments: Use it as a mass planting in a difficult, moist spot in the garden. The plant has attractive foliage and cute flowers. Appears to be deer proof, although water fowl will eat the seeds.

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday.  This day is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. How they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. So please share your wildflowers on your favorite social media site. Share to help educate others!

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.