Surprising facts about spiderwort

This pretty North American native plant grows with vigour and ease in most parts of the country. The name may not be pretty but the purple blooms will add warmth to your garden. Here are the basics on the flower, the types, and the best growing methods.

• Spiderwort is at its best in warm, moist soil and adaptable to variable conditions.
• It is a strongly upright plant that bears lilac-blue, three-petaled flowers over a two-month period.
• Spiderwort does well in sunny flower gardens, in cool-summer climates or shady areas in warm regions.
• The triangular flowers appear in small clusters at the stem tips and close at night, with new buds opening every day.
• Spiderwort is ideal for filling low spots in gardens or wild meadows.
• Use it as a "repeat" plant in a long flower border that is partly in sun and partly in shade to tie the border together.
• Spiderwort thrives in deeply dug, well-drained beds, but it can also tolerate wet soil conditions that give other flowering plants trouble with root rot.
• These stalwart natives are rarely if ever visited by pests or diseases.

Most plants sold for the garden are hybrids between several species. Here are some the more popular cultivars.

• Purple Profusion grows 45 centimetres (18 inches) tall with a long season of bluish purple flowers set off by yellow stamens.
• Zwanenburg Blue offers flowers of a rare royal blue and foliage veined in purple.
• Pauline has large pink flowers.
• Snowcap is a white form that provides sparkling contrast when paired with blue cultivars.
• Bilberry Ice, which has two-toned flowers with lavender streaks, and rose-flowered Red Cloud are bothcompact spiderworts at 25 centimetres (10 inches) tall that are ideal for smaller gardens.

•  Dig and divide clumps every four to five years in early spring.
• Look for points of narrow foliage poking through the soil's surface at about the time the first daffodils bloom.
• Use a spade or a sharp knife to cut the large mass into smaller clumps, each of which should have three or more crowns.
• Transplant individual clumps to their new locations and water immediately.
• In mild-winter climates, you can also dig and divide large clumps in the fall.
• Spiderworts self-sow easily. You can dig and move seedlings in spring in colder regions, and in spring or fall in mild climates.

• Set plants out in early spring, 30 centimetres (12 inches) apart.
• Plant them at the same depth they occupied in their nursery pots.
• Water as needed to keep soil moist for a few weeks until they show signs of growth.
• Ideally, soil should be moist and loamy, but spiderwort can also adapt to drier conditions after its first year in the garden.
• Fertilize plants each spring with a deep drench of liquid, all-purpose plant food, mixed according to label directions.
• After the plants have finished blooming in the summer and the foliage becomes yellowed, cut plants back to five centimetres (two inches) from the ground.
• Abundant rainfall or irrigation will often coax a second flush of foliage and flowers. However, more often the plants will simply go dormant until the following spring.

Spiderwort's main charm is glistening, intensely saturated flower colour in late spring through summer. Following some of these guidelines will get you the most benefit from your spiderwort.