Obedience Plant

These lovely flowers are physostegia virginiana also called false dragonhead or obedience plant. Quite a few years ago, I saw a picture of them in a seed catalog and decided to order some for my garden. They grow two to four feet in height so I planted them in the middle of a bed. Big mistake! I should have researched obedience plant more thoroughly because these plants spread from underground stems like wildfire. They are the single most aggressive plant I have ever cultivated. I use my big shovel to dig up clumps of obedience plant every spring so they won't choke out the purple coneflowers, iris, sedum and yarrow that I have in the same bed.

They may have an aggressive personality, but I do think they yield beautiful flowers. They bloom in late summer after other flowers have tapered off and before my chrysanthemums burst into bloom. I consistently win blue ribbons in the county fair flower show with my obedience plants. This year I didn't enter anything in the flower show because our spring and summer were so dry. Nothing I had bloomed as big and beautiful as it normally does. However, I was so disappointed in my decision not to show when I visited the fair. There was only one obedience plant entered and it was a sad, little specimen. In fact, even though it was the only flower entered in its category, the bloom was draped with a "thanks for participating" green ribbon. Meanwhile, I had these blooms in my garden.

I think I made a mistake, don't you?!!! Next year I will trust the beauty of my flowers even in adverse growing conditions.