Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Late bloomer

The false dragon (Physostegia virginiana) head shows off its rosy pink blossoms. A friend gave a few of these plants to me several years ago and I planted them at the side of my garage. They have now grown and spread along the garage and around a corner.

The plant grows to about three feet in height and the tube shaped flowers bloom from a four sided spike. It’s one of the few garden plants that bloom in August.

The plant has several names, among them Obedient Plant and Accommodation Flower. This is taken from the fact that if the growing stalk gets bent or twisted, the plant will continue to grow while retaining the shape it was given. I’ve accidentally nicked a stalk or two while mowing the lawn, resulting in L-shaped plants which are now beginning to blossom.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

2 comments:

engloy said...

Beautiful, James. I like the nice black background you had to contrast with the colors of the flowers and leaves. Some people on a forum actually marked down flower portraits with black backgrounds saying that the background looks too artificial. I beg to differ :)

James said...

Hi, engloy!
Good to hear from you again. The black background is indeed artificial - anyone watching while I photograph with a large sheet of black foam board will attest to something strange going on - but I think it helps highlight the form, color and lighting on the subject and brings out a quality that hard to get, otherwise.