O for Obedience plant … a perennial plant that isn’t always obedient in the garden as it can become quite invasive.
Or is it O for obedient plant … that shows no obedience when growing in the garden.
Obedience/obedient plant or physostegia grows well in most types of soil and likes full sun to a bit of shade. Newer varieties are being developed that aren’t so invasive. I have white and pink plants in the garden and tend to plant them at the edge of the garden where the mower cuts down the shoots that spread into the grass.
The common name comes from the fact that you can turn the individual flowers to any direction you want. These plants can grow up to 1 meter tall. They are also called false dragonhead.
The flower spikes open from the bottom upwards. Once the blooms drop off it leaves a seedpod.
Each little pod has some seeds inside it.
I don’t have any need to save the seeds from this plant as it spreads rapidly by underground roots and leaders. In fact I’m forever digging the edges of the clumps and giving the plants away.
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Teri
Rockland Ontario– love this plant. There was a huge patch of horseradish. I discovered that horseradish is indestructible. Could not get rid of it. Opposite to my horseradish patch was my neighbour’s obedience patch. Resigned to never getting rid of the horseradish, I would pull out the leaves so I didn’t have to look at them. The obedience plant moved in over top of the radish roots. I think it chokes the horseradish because the once flourishing patch is more than 99% obedience.