Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Plant Profile: Indian Pink or Pink Root (Spigelia marilandica)

Indian Pink or Pink Root (Spigelia marilandica) is a perennial plant that blooms in early to mid-summer. It is native to the Eastern United States and is hardy to zones 5-9.

Spigelia prefers neutral, well-drained soils, and woodland edge conditions in light shade.

Spigelia is a favorite of pollinators and is particularly attractive to hummingbirds.

This plant is notoriously hard to source. Once established, it hates being transplanted. Seed collection is difficult, if not impossible. According to Rick Dark and Doug Tallamy’s The Living Landscape, Spigelia’s seeds are dehiscent, meaning the seed capsules are propelled some distance from the mother plant to start new seedlings.

Two recent introductions have made the plant more accessible to the home gardener. They are both vegetatively propagated and available now from local independent garden centers.

The first is ‘Little Redhead’, which improves on the straight species by being more tolerant of full sun conditions. It has deep-red flowers held above dense clumps of dark-green foliage.

The other is ‘Ragin Cajun’, which has flowers that are more orange-red. It also stays more rounded and compact while sending out more flowers per plant than the straight native species or ‘Little Redhead’.

Spigelia - You Can Grow That!

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.

Visuals by Amanda Cash
Audio by Kathy Jentz

 

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