Flowers
Common Name: obedient plant
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Lamiaceae
Zone: 3 to 9
Height: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Spread: 1.50 to 2.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to September
Bloom Description: Pink
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Naturalize, Rain Garden
Flower: Showy, Good Cut
Attracts: Hummingbirds
Tolerate: Deer, Clay Soil
Culture
Easily grown in average, moist, acidic, well-drained soils in full sun. Stems tend to flop in rich soils, too much shade or hot summer temperatures. Taller plants may need staking. Tolerates wet soils and some part shade.
'Pink Manners' is less prone to flopping than the species.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Physostegia virginiana, commonly called obedient plant or false dragonhead, is a rhizomatous perennial that is native to North America from Quebec to Manitoba south to Florida and New Mexico. In Missouri, it is commonly found in a variety of habitats including open meadows, prairies, stream banks, gravel bars, wooded bluff bases and railroad track right-of-ways (Steyermark). Tubular, two-lipped, snapdragon-like, pink to pale lilac flowers in upright terminal spikes (each to 12-18”) bloom throughout summer (late June-September) atop square stems rising to 2-4’ tall. Flowers bloom bottom to top on each spike, with each flower being subtended by a small leaf-like bract. Stems are clad with opposite, narrow-lanceolate, sharply-toothed leaves (to 3-6” long). Species plants are noted for being aggressive spreaders in the landscape by both rhizomes and self-seeding.
Genus name comes from the Greek words physa meaning bladder and stege meaning covering in reference to the calyces which inflate as they develop.
Specific epithet is in reference to the State of Virginia which is part of the native range for this plant.
Genus members are commonly called obedient plants because each individual flower will, upon being pushed in any one direction, temporarily remain in the new position as if it were hinged. Genus members are also commonly called false dragonhead because the flowers are suggestive of the flowers of dragonhead (Dracocephalum).
'Pink Manners' is a hybrid developed in Hubbbardston, Massachusetts in a breeding program in which the goal was to produce a cultivar featuring pink flowers on a clump-forming plant that lacked the spreading rhizomatous growth characteristics typically found on species plants. The result is ‘Pink Manners’ which is a compact cultivar that does not flop and is not aggressive. Patent documents for ‘Pink Manners’ reveal that its distinctive characteristics are (1) flowers that are light rose pink in color, (2) clump-forming growth habit, (3) very short rhizomes, and (4) height of 30-42”. U.S. Plant Patent PP23,482 was issued on March 19, 2013.
Problems
Rust is an occasional problem. Watch for aphids and spider mites.
Species plants can be an aggressive spreader.
'Pink Manners' is less prone to self-seeding than the species and forms clumps rather than spreading by underground rhizomes.
Uses
Borders, cottage gardens, wild gardens, prairies or meadows. Valued for its compact form, long summer bloom and non-spreading habit.