One of the most unusual plants in my garden is the Phacelia pinnatifida, commonly known as Purple Phacelia, Fernleaf Phacelia, and Spotted Phacelia.
It is also sometimes called Scorpion weed due to the plant’s distinctive, coiled flower clusters that resemble a curled scorpion’s tail as they unfurl. My first introduction to this beautiful plant was in the spring at The Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail located on Hog Jowl Road in LaFayette, GA. For one of the best wildflower viewing experiences this is my number one spot.
With a long boardwalk through the garden, it is easily handicapped accessible. I go several times a year to see the flowers throughout the growing season. I highly recommend this experience, but be sure you take a native plant ID book and your camera. You’ll see many flowers you may never have seen before.
Look for Phacelia in shady to partial shady areas that are moist or occasionally wet, with slightly acidic soil. It prefers some organic matter, so if you plant it in your garden, keep it mulched with leaf litter. Lacy, fernlike leaves of the Phacelia will emerge in early spring, producing a plant that is 1-3 feet tall and wide. The velvety leaves are compound, with 3-5 toothed-edged leaflets that have hairy leaves and stems. Once you see it, you’ll be able to identify it easily.
But the show doesn’t really begin until the blooms begin to open, usually in April to May. I can’t even describe how beautiful these flowers are. The incredible lavender flower with such prevalent pistils and stamen that protrude from the center of the bloom make quite an impact.
The flowers are round, lavender blue, cup shaped and will open sequentially along the raceme, a flower arrangement where the flowers grow on short stems along a central stalk forming a cluster. Blooms will begin to open at the base of the stalk and proceed to open upwards along the stalk, giving it quite a long bloom time.
These blooms give way to seed pods. Since it is a biennial, it completes its life cycle over two years. In its first year, plants grow as a rosette of lobed leaves, and the second year they produce
flowers which will produce seeds. You don’t have to worry that you will only have flowers every other year, because not all the seeds will germinate the first year. I started out with one plant and now have hundreds of babies as well as second year plants insuring blooms every year.
Phacelia has many uses in the garden. It can be used as a ground cover, as it reseeds quite readily. A naturalized area can be allowed to ‘go crazy’ filling in with the beautiful plants. It is also great for your pollinator garden as it attracts specialized bees, songbirds, small mammals, and many kinds of pollinating insects. Wherever you decide to plant it, the more the merrier as it gives its best show in mass plantings,
You can intersperse other woodland favorites with the Phacelia to continue the colorful display by adding some Virginia Bluebells for blooms from March to April. The Phacelia should begin blooming towards the end of the Bluebell blooms, then add some Celandine Poppies to add some bright yellow that will extend the garden color through May and possibly June.
Some Christmas ferns with their evergreen fronds or Ebony Spleenwort ferns with their dainty evergreen fronds will add icing to the cake with their year-round color. We hope to have some of these potted and ready for our spring plant spring plant sale, so be sure to mark your calendars for the third Saturday in April at the Carroll County Agriculture Center in Carrollton from 9AM-12PM.
To learn more about the Native Plant Society and the West Georgia Chapter, visit gnps.org, wgawildlfower.org or the Facebook page for GNPS and the West Georgia Chapter. If you have additional questions on this subject or would like more information on gardening contact Carroll County UGA Extension Office located at the Carroll County Ag Education Center to speak with a Carroll County Master Gardener Extension volunteer at 770-836-8546 or ccmg@uga.edu.
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