Native to Know: Indian Pink

This tough, adaptable perennial will carry your garden from spring to summer in style

Calling all hummingbirds ! Indian pink ( Spigelia marilandica , Zones 5–9 ) , also called pinkroot , blooms all across the Southern Plains in late saltation and former summertime . Perhaps one of our showy aboriginal perennial , Indian pink produces scores of vivid blood-red and white-livered blooms in former spring aright after the ephemerals have finished blooming . The cannular flowers afford one by one along gently arching cyme and present upward , displaying burnished cerise throats that flare at the top to produce sensationalistic star .

A broad native range

Although Indian pink produce in my domicile state of Illinois , I was n’t familiar with the plant life until I moved to Oklahoma . Its aboriginal range extend from Indiana southwest to Texas and south-east to Florida . In nature , this thud - forming perennial occurs primarily in moist woods and along streambanks .

Sun or shade, wet or dry

Showy blooms and unbelievable adaptability make Indian pink an first-class landscape painting plant for aboriginal plantings , pollinator gardens , and suspect edge . This hardy plant adapts to a variety of dirt and faint atmospheric condition . I ’ve grown Indian pinkish in full shadiness , full sun , and everything in between , but it performs best in partial to full shade and moist soil . Even in heavy spook , Amerindic pinkish bloom prolifically . The stunning blooms make a unparalleled slash flower . Encourage a longer flush period by withdraw spent prime .

Indian pink tolerates lactating soil , hold it suited for bog gardens and pond - side garden . I ’ve also develop it in teetotal shade gardens . Such is the versatility of this plant . In sunnier locations , plants require supplemental irrigation .

Increasing your stock

Versatile design options

When Native American garden pink is not in bloom , its glossy green foliage provide a sturdy background to ferns and other OK - textured companion such as stink hellebore ( Helleborus foetidus , Zones 5–9 ) . Also stress pairing it with bold - foliaged plants such as hostas ( Hostaspp . , Zones 3–8 ) and oakleaf hydrangea ( Hydrangea quercifolia , Zones 5–9 ) . Indian pink does not compete well with belligerent plants , so pay care to surroundings and give it passel of space around large flora . Indian pinkish emerges late in the spring and develop 12 to 24 inch marvelous and extensive . Be sure to mark the location of any Indian pink plants if you intend to dig around them sooner than that .

Gardeners with children and pets should habituate carefulness , as all share of the plant contain toxic alkaloid . But these plant are rarely bothered by pests or disease ( only rarely browse by deer ) and are drought tolerant once lay down . Amerindic pink is an underutilized aboriginal perennial that merit a stead in the garden .

— Kim Toscano is a horticulturalist , entomologist , garden designer , writer , and graphic designer . She previously hostedOklahoma Gardening , a weekly PBS TV program produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service .

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