Gardenbite: Spigelia a native plant for your landscape | #GoodGrowing

Welcome to the Good Growing podcast. I am Chris Enroth, horticulture educator with University of Illinois Extension coming at you from my backyard. It's fourth of July weekend, and we are relaxing and having a good time. So today, we have got a garden bite for you, a favorite new native plant of mine, spigelia. Now this plant in particular is not necessarily native to where I'm at in Illinois, but it is native to Southern Illinois.

And we go back to a clip in 2021 where we talk with Elizabeth Wally, who's down in Southern Illinois about her new favorite plant of the year that year, which was spigelia, also known as Indian pink or Carolina pink. So enjoy.

So another plant that I saw that was new to me was the Indian pink. It looks like it's nature's rethought version of our native columbine. Is the Indian pink also attractive to hummingbirds like columbine is? And then also, what do you like most about the Indian pink?

So how'd you know that that's my favorite all time plant in my garden? I think maybe you've been talking to somebody. Spigilla is my favorite plant. And I don't know, there's just something about it's like a plant dressed up for Mardi Gras to me. It is just scarlet red on the outside and the tips of the petals of the flower are folded back and it's just yellow, I mean, gold yellow.

You can't get any more contrast than two primary colors on the flower, and they're just stunning. And it is an Illinois native, though it's not throughout the state, so it has limited range in Illinois, but it is one of our Illinois native, more common to more of our Southeastern states. But I've had this plant for I started it right off from the very beginning on this property, and it probably took it ten years before it actually spread to another site. You know, I mentioned earlier that I'm always cautious about plants that spread too much. I think that there's a direct correlation to how much you like them and how little they spread.

Seems like the plants you don't want to spread go all over the place. Plants that you just would love to see it in lots of places are really slow to do it. And so I would rate spigelia as being a little bit fussy to get established. It's not one that you can just plant in the ground and walk away from it. It actually needs to have tender loving care when you first plant it.

And so it's one that I will, when I'm going to plant another plant, I will usually buy three of them and plant them in three different locations because I never know which one's going to take. I just have to increase my chance of survival, and these are ones, you know, I would rate helibores and pulmonary in the same group that once established they're really tough, but getting them established you need to check them every day to make sure that they don't need to be watered or something to get them established. But just beautiful. It's one of my favorites.

Well, was some interesting information about a newish native plant that I am enjoying having in my own landscape. The Good Growing podcast is production of University of Illinois Extension, edited this week by me, Chris Enroth. Hey, listeners. A special thanks to you. Thank you for doing what you do best, and that is listening.

Or if you're watching this on YouTube watching. And as always, keep on growing.