Physostegia 'Crown White'

Physostegia 'Crown White': Cool White Spires Rising From Damp Ground

Crisp white spikes that open from the bottom up like an elevator going floor by floor. 'Crown White' is tidy, well behaved and has NEVER MISSED A CURFEW IN ITS LIFE.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Physostegia virginiana 'Crown White'
• Common Name: Obedient Plant, False Dragonhead
• Height: 50 cm (20 in)
• Spread: 50 cm (20 in)
• Flowers: White, tubular and lipped, in upright spikes that open from the bottom up
• Bloom Time: Midsummer to early fall (July to September)
• Foliage: Narrow, lance-shaped green leaves on square stems
• Features: Long-lasting cut flower

Where to Plant: Plant it in the middle of a sunny bed, in a rain garden or beside a pond, where the white spikes glow in the evening. It tolerates clay and damp spots, so it's useful in low areas where other perennials sulk. Like most obedient plants, it spreads by underground runners into a patch, so give it room or edge it in a tidy bed.

Companion Plants: Lilium 'Blacklist' adds dark burgundy lily flowers at 60 to 85 cm in June and July. Filipendula 'Elegans' brings pink plumes from June to August. Ceratostigma plumbaginoides covers the front with blue flowers from August to October. The white obedient plant blooms from July to September and links them all.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun to part sun in moist, moderately fertile soil. Keep it watered in dry spells, especially the first year. Very rich, wet soil makes it taller and more likely to spread. The species spreads by shallow runners, so divide it every two or three years in spring to keep it in its space. Extra shoots are easy to pull. Cut the stems back in late fall or early spring.

History: Obedient plant is native to much of eastern North America, including Ontario and Quebec, where it grows in wet meadows and along streams and thickets. Its common name comes from flowers that stay in place when pushed to one side, and it belongs to the mint family, which explains the square stems.

Final Thoughts: Long-lasting in a vase and a hummingbird hotspot. Deer leave it alone. THE TEACHER'S PET OF THE PERENNIAL BED.