If you like a well behaved plant that never, ever trespasses into another plant's space then forget about
Physostegia virginiana, aka, False dragonhead, its colonizing ways will make you crazy.**
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| the big late summer show from several seasons past |
Of course, you could consider some other pretty lavender-pink late blooming flowers, but, you will miss the dramatic show and the cool bottom up bloom.
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| With colonizers you get free offspring and a dramatic show |
I didn't edit last year or this spring (hand surgery) and the result is a marvelous mass planting, much larger than usual. It makes me happy every time I step into the garden. Surely this won't surprise any of you! My mostly native garden has its fair share of
colonizers. I let them duke it out all summer and sit back to enjoy the fall show. It never disappoints me.
I garden for wildlife and grow False dragonhead because it's a magnet for
pollinators, especially bumbles, carpenter bees and small bees
and because it makes a wonderful and dramatic late summer/early fall show in the garden.
The purplish pink tubular flowers are perfect for plump little bumblebee bodies to slip inside and sup on the nectar and collect a little pollen.
When you watch bees work these plants~ they move in and out, up and down and all around the flower head a mass planting makes sense. When they're finished with one, they quickly move onto the next False dragonhead plant not a plant in a different genus. I've read that a planting of the same flower should be at least 4 foot wide...the key for me is "at least". This planting is much larger~maybe 10 feet by 4 feet. This fall they'll have a whole lot of the same plant in one spot! That's what makes
colonizing plants so attractive to me, they reproduce to create a nice sized planting for pollinators....and it's free plants. (I will have plants to share with others this fall.)
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| Bumbles are the primary pollinator~not the chubby carpenter bee~It's too large. |
The entire flower head is striking, but, let's take a closer look at the individual flower. Do you suppose the dots, stripes and dots act like nectar guides to draw bees on to the perfect central lower lip landing pad? They're certainly colorful. When you get close you can see how perfectly designed the tubular flowers are for a bumblebee! It's a perfect relationship between bee and flower~ the bee gets food and the flower gets pollinated. We get to enjoy the beautiful flowers and watch the delightful critters.
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| A perfect flower for bumbles...ahhhh, the Pollination Syndrome at work! |
Nature amazes me, every single day!
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| there's plenty of room for smaller bees |
xoxogail
PS. In case you need a reminder, please make the pledge to never, ever, ever, ever use pesticides in your garden.
** Please don't call native plants invasive. They may be thugs, they may be aggressive, but, what they are is highly competitive plants that you must edit or decide not to plant in your gardens!
Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist 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.
