Obedient Plant

Physostegia virginiana

Obedient Plant earns its curious name from a mechanical quirk: push a flower to one side on its stem, and it stays put. The spikes of tubular pink blooms rise in late summer when the garden needs color most, attracting hummingbirds and bumblebees that work the blossoms from bottom to top as each one opens. It's one of the last reliable natives to bloom before fall sets in. Give it room. Obedient Plant spreads by underground rhizomes and will colonize space over time. That quality makes it excellent for naturalizing a rain garden edge or stabilizing a moist slope, but pair it with competitors in a formal border or contain it with a root barrier. The cut flowers last well in a vase and the upright stalks add height to late-summer arrangements.