Plant Type

Perennial

 

Height Range

1-3', 3-6'

 

Flower Color

Lavender, Pink, White

 

Flower Season

Summer

 

Leaf Color

Green

 

Bark Color

n/a

 

Fruit Color

n/a

 

Fruit Season

n/a

Sun

Full, Half

 

Water

Medium, High

 

Growth Rate

Fast

 

Soil Type

Clay, Loam

 

Soil Condition

Average, Rich, Well-drained, Moist

 

Soil pH

Neutral

 

Adverse Factors

Attracts Bees, Invasive

Design Styles

English Cottage, Meadow, Ranch

 

Accenting Features

Showy Flowers

 

Seasonal Interest

Summer

 

Location Uses

Background, Perennial Border, Shrub Border, Walls / Fences

 

Special Uses

Cut Flowers, Naturalizing

 

Attracts Wildlife

Hummingbirds, Butterflies

Obedient plant is an upright, clump-forming, mid-west native found along stream banks and moist areas of prairies. It typically grows 2 to 4 feet tall with an equal or farther spread (due to its rhizomatous nature), with tubular flowers that form clusters at the stem tips from June through August and even into September. Flowers are pinkish, orchid, or white, depending on cultivar. Leaves are green, lance-shaped, and toothed. Best suited for mass planting, mixed with large ornamental grasses, or for meadowish landscapes where it may roam freely.

Grow in amended soils that are medium to moist, though well drained, and in full sun (they will tolerate dappled shade but it may reduce the blooming period and volume, and cause it to require staking). Will grow in clay soils. Pinching back the plant at the tips will reduce the height and the likelihood of floppiness without sacrificing blooms. It is rhizomous and spreads; reducing water will slow the spreading, but its best to just plan for the invasion... 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. Sometimes also commonly called false dragonhead because the flowers are suggestive of those of dragonhead (Dracocephalum).