Available September 2020
Hailing from the Mid South and Southern Appalachian Mountains, Indian pink or Pinkroot (Spigelia marilandica) is a stunning native wildflower for moist rich soil in partial shade and morning sun. Pinkroot's natural range is from Missouri to extreme Southern Indiana, south into Kentucky and Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia, and west along the Gulf Coast to Eastern Texas and Oklahoma.
Pinkroot has a lush, tropical look with dark green glossy leaves and intense ruby-red firecracker blossoms with butter to banana yellow centers. The plants can form large colonies in rich cove forests, and bloom for about a month in the summer, sometimes reblooming in the fall. If deadheaded, they will continue to bloom the whole summer. Plants grow 18 to 24 inches tall, and self-seed readily in a good spot.
Pinkroot is an excellent filler plant for moist woodland spots that get a reasonable amount of sunshine before midday - They will grow in surprisingly dry soils, though they don't thrive as much as they would in a more moist spot.
Pinkroot blooms in the height of summer, well after the spring wildflowers have faded, helping to break up the sometimes overwhelming green of the summer woods. The plants are quite toxic, so they are largely avoided by rabbits and deer.
Pinkroot is very easy to grow as long as it is planted in rich, moist soil. Leaner soils can be enriched with a scoop or two of compost before planting. The clumps grow slowly at first, though in time clumps can get quite large. Clumps add several stems each year, really coming into their own by the third year in the soil.
We currently provide Pinkroot in our 1 Quart SuperPlugs, a fabric container that results in a dense, well-developed root system for rapid establishment. Most perennials will come to full size a year or two sooner than perennials grown in conventional plastic containers.
| Common Name: | Pinkroot/ Indian Pink |
| Botanical Name: | Spigelia marilandica |
