Obedience Plant (False Dragonhead)
Physostegia virginiana. LAMIACEAE (LABIATAE).
Planting and Growing Obedience Plant
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow obedience plant in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of obedience plant
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for obedience plant
- Season of bloom and planting time for obedience plant
- When, how deep, and where to plant obedience plant
- How to plant obedience plant
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of obedience plant
- Landscape and container uses of obedience plant
- Comments about obedience plant and its features
Growing Obedience Plant
Several cultivars of erect, upright, narrow, rhizomatous, deciduous perennial herbs, to 4 ft. (1.2 m) tall. Opposite, green-and-white variegated, lance-shaped, pointed, toothed leaves to 5 in. (13 cm) long.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Showy, pink, rose, white, irregular, opened-mouthed, cone-shaped, snapdragon-like flowers, to 1 in. (25 mm) long, with rose purple centers, in dense clusters on tapering spikes, 10–12 in. (25–30 cm) tall, in early spring–early summer.
Best Climates
Hardy. Zones 2–9.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained loam. Fertility: Rich. 6.0–6.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring, zones 2–7; autumn, zones 8–9, in full sun to partial shade, 1–2 ft. (30–60 cm) apart.
Proper Care
Very easy. Keep moist. Fertilize monthly. Pinch to keep compact. Stake. Propagate by division, seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for backgrounds, beds, borders, containers, fencelines in cottage, formal, natural, shade, woodland gardens. Good for cutting. Invasive. Pest and disease resistant.