I'm crazy about a good colonizing plant like Physostegia virginiana

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.**

 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.

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.)

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.

A perfect flower for bumbles...ahhhh, the Pollination Syndrome at work!

Nature amazes me, every single day!

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.

It's True, I have A Lukwarm Relationship With A Wildflower!

Limestone Wild Petunia or Ruellia strepens has made his appearance in the garden. I think the flower is lovely, a rather pretty lavender any girl could love.

It's true, I have a lukewarm relationship with this wildflower. Most of the time I tolerate his presence in the garden. I hoped he had some value...all wild flowers feed some creatures or the nectar they provide brings bees that pollinate other plants. So, I left him alone...despite his unattractive look most of the season.

See what I mean! His flower is sweet, but goodness, he is stingy! He produces a flower here and a flower there! They last one day and fall off!

Most of the time, he is a 2 to 3 foot green presence with no outstanding foliage or unusual qualities that make you want to find him and plant him in your yard. Actually, he's probably already there....you cut him done or weed him out! I do remove him occasionally...which means digging him up...he has an incredible fibrous root system that resists yanking!

It occurs to me that I am not making him attractive. Which is a shame on my part, he does have some interesting qualities. For instance, please take a closer look inside the corolla. (click to enlarge).

Can you see the darker veining? Those are nectar guides*...bees and other nectar gatherers use them to see their way into the corolla to reach the nectar. I love how the nectar guides are on the side petals of this flower, not at the bottom. Interesting isn't it? I haven't been able to find out why.


I wanted to do right by this wildflower so I researched him...

He has faunal associations! Just as I suspected! It seems he is a perfect flower for attracting bees and other pollinators:

He is full of nectar,
has a tubular shape (the nectars at the base),
has a landing pad,
is open during the day and,
is brightly colored.

Long tongued bees visit him for his nectar. The long tongued bees...miner bees, carpenter bees and parasitic bees are his primary pollinators. Limestone Wild Petunia and his primary pollinators have what is called Pollinator Syndrome: having co-evolved physical characteristics that make them interact successfully. The bees and their matched flowers are co-dependent... in a good way! They have been very successful in my garden, because his progeny is all over.

Leaf cutter bees have been observed to cut pieces of the corolla to use in their brood nests. I believe they layer it in the nest...seal it up and then die. The next generation is on its own!


If you click and enlarge this photo you can see that someone has cut a whole in the corolla...could it be a leaf cutting bee? I'd like to imagine so! Please note the absence of strong nectar guides from this side of the flower.

Short tongue bees (think sweat bees!) and Syrphid flies (you want these guys, they eat Aphids), also visit the flowers. They collect stray pollen but, are not effective pollinators. No Pollinator Syndrome here. But I like that they show up...I want as many predatory insects as I can possibly have working in the garden to keep aphids off my plants.

Finally, there are the unsubstantiated rumors that Sphinx moths and Hummingbird moths are attracted to the funnel shaped flowers. It is also rumored that the flowers are munched on by caterpillars of the butterfly Junonia coenia (Buckeye).

I hope these rumors prove true. Have you ever seen a Hummingbird moth or Sphinx moth?


Isn't this Clearwing sphinx moth incredible looking? (Mark Fagan Photograph)

Let's recap:

He has a cute lavender flower,
with striking nectar guides that we can see,
a co-dependent relationship with bees, flies, moths and butterflies,
he attracts insects that eat aphids.

Ok, he gets to stay in my garden, what about yours?

Gail

*Although, you can clearly see the nectar guides in the Ruellia, it's not unusual for nectar guides (demonstration) to be invisible to the human eye in other plants.

"I love being asked to identify plants, and I don't know which gives me more pleasure: to know what they are or not to know what they are."...Elizabeth Lawrence, Through the Garden Gates, 1990