Beauty and the Beast

 Beauty and "the beast"!
 I've waited a LONG time for these to bloom.  Wasn't sure it was going to happen!
 Then yesterday, August 6th, the show began!
 
 We had help yesterday!  T helped Grandpa pick up walnuts and spent a little time digging weeds out of a flower bed...
Finally some beautiful days!  Less heat.  Less humidity.  Until NEXT week.

7 comments:

  1. Your Obedient plants are a 'beauty', Rebecca. I'm trying to naturalize some in the field, they aren't as tall as usual, but they did return.
    Your little weed helper looks hard at work! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. They are beautiful! Are they Lupines? We have tried to grow them without success.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mari, to be honest I'm not sure WHAT they are. Some have identified them as Obedient plants....I was given them a few years ago and told they were very hearty. They HAVE survived well and spread a little but not out of control. I'm really glad to see them blooming.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm pretty sure Wanda is right - OBEDIENT PLANT (Physostegia spp)- Obedient plant is also known as False Dragonhead. The plant has opposite lance shaped leaves and bears showy spikes of light purple flowers in September and also earlier. The large tubular flowers have white areas on margins and interior. The common name "obedient plant" results from the fact that the flowers will remain in place after being moved. The other name "False Dragonhead" results from the flower's similarity to a Snapdragon. The plant is easily cultivated and used as an ornamental perennial. In fertile soil it can become a weed pest. Obedient plant occurs in swamps, stream banks, ditches, seepages, damp meadows and prairies, moist open woodlands, bogs, and pine savannas. Obedient plant is happy in either sunny or lightly shaded spots, but it does best with some shade on drier sites, and full sun where it is wetter. This is a wonderful plant to add luminous rosy lavender late season color to the bronzy golds and yellows of a damp meadow. It holds its own with grasses very well. And it is classified as deer resistant, so it should bloom well in places where deer would eat the tasty buds off other flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The look lovely. And, it's good to see you have a young gardener to help.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful! Not purple, maybe lavendar or violet. Seems I remember seeng these in my mother's garden years ago. That is if they grew in desert Kansas.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Rebecca. So glad you are seeing them bloom ~ I know how it is to wait for a new plant to show you its first blossoms. I agree it looks like obedient plant to me too. I have the white variety in this garden but have grown the pink before.
    Thanks for leaving me such a nice comment.

    ReplyDelete