PlantFiles: Ohio Spiderwort, Bluejacket, Snotweed
Tradescantia ohiensis

We planted this along with Swamp Milkweed and Hibiscus last spring. We desire to have more natives on our property. These did not appear to thrive very well, but we figured it could have been any number of things, like my black thumb.

We did not think any came back this year, but to my surprise, this morning, I saw several of our plants had bloomed. I look forward to seeing this beauty in the years to come.

Oh, the reason I chose this was because of its lesser known common name... Cow Slobber. That cracked me up. I am not sure I will tell the youngsters that it is also called "Snotweed". :)

Found as a native throughout NE Florida, you can find these growing just about everywhere. Referred to as "Ditch Lillies" locally, these plants are easy to grow. I have them in full sun and shade, in moist soil and dry. If they like the conditions too well the can become a "weed", but are easy to control. This is one of my favorite plants. I love them!

Great little native anywhere east of the Rockies! Takes a lot of abuse and transplants easily. Drought tolerant.

I know that this plant does very well in OKC as my neighbors have it and there are also two lovely clumps of spiderwort against the fence that forms a border between the parking lot and the perennial section of the nursery where I work. One has magenta blooms and the other has blue blooms.
Both clumps receive sun during the hottest part of the day, from midday to late afternoon. I'm sure the drainage is good as we never have standing puddles in the parking lot after heavy rains. We sneak the spiders a drink once in a while when we water the plants along the inside of the fence, but that's about it.
However . . .
the spiderwort I planted two years ago in a protected alcove just outside my south facing front door is languishing. I think maybe it needs a little more water and sun so I am moving it this week to a spot nearer to a downspout just about three feet outside of the alcove.
That should afford it a few more hours of sun as well.
Will see if it helps!

It can be invasive, but I don't mind! I found a massive wild population down under a local river bridge that covers several acres, and I've found just about every color you can imagine growing there. With dark bluish-purple being the most common, white and/or white varigated with blue is the rarest. I've gotten at least six different colors from the same location, and plan to go back and look for more.

I have HUNDREDS of these plants, and I am not unhappy about it! They came with my property as the most frequently occuring wildflower, along with lots of lantana and an overabundance of Bidens alba.

The Spiderworts transplant easily, so I dig them up and move them to the back edges of my flower bed borders. They grow both in full sun and deep shade. When they are forced to compete with other taller plants to reach the sun, they will grow as high as about 4 ft. I sometimes leave one or two where they choose to grow if they add to a planting in situ. Not much is needed in transplanting them except to dig them up and heel them into a trench at the new site. I've also done a mass planting of them in an area about 3 ft by 4 ft. Jammed closely together, they make an effective display. I will interplant this area with Impatiens to hide the Spiderwort foliage during its "down" times.

I've collected other varieties of Spiderworts, including the white "Alba" from Wal-Mart, and the pink "Blushing Bride" and a double-flowering blue "Plenum" from eBay sellers. Someday when I truly have nothing better to do, I plan to try some selective breeding to see what might result in combinations of the different varieties. I will currently just watch for anomalies of variations that may occur naturally from the intermixing of the varieties that I have.

I noticed today that, despite my having several dozen varieties of flowers in bloom right now, the honey bees seem to prefer the T. ohiensis for pollen gathering.

I started a thread in the DG Plant I.D. forum to try to determine if I had T. ohiensis or T. virginiana. The answer seems to be that T. ohiensis lack the hairs on the sepals that are present on T. virginiana. Close examination with a magnifying glass disclosed that I do seem to have T. ohiensis. All of my Spiderworts that I examined had sepals that were glabrous (smooth) rather than pubescent (with cilia).

Jeremy

These reseed readily in my garden, am constantly pulling up seedlings. They are a good filler while the foliage is nice but get quite ugly for me by late summer and are cut back to the ground. I have the blue and the white, the clumps of blue seem to enlarge more quickly than the white. Mine receive much more shade than sun and do quite well.

Ohio spiderwort is a smooth erect perennial. The flowers are in clusters at leaf nodes or atop a stem. The blooms are 3 petaled, blue or violet, rarely white, with 6 yellow tipped stamens.

Young stems and leaves were eaten in salads or fried with other greens and eaten by native Americans. Spiderworts were thought to cure spider bites

It is extremely agressive, doubling to tripling every year in my garden. The flowers will stain clothing, so watch out. I intend to save the seeds, now that I know they seed in the fall. Will share them with my friends, my neighbors already have plenty. I wonder how they made it to southeastern North Carolina? I have seen them everywhere between here and the coast. I am glad that I found your website!

This plant does extremely well in southwest Ohio (zone 6). Bloom cycle is from late spring through late summer. It is also a hardy plant that can withstand the abuse of trampling by children, weedwhacking by husband, and "scenting" by every male dog in the neighborhood. Although not listed on this page I have found it to grow very well in total shade. It is harmonious with the fern family and the hosta family. The combination of the three makes an attractive, minimal maintenance shade bed.

This is a wonderful perennial in Florida. It has a very long early spring well into summer bloom season, and can throw more blooms from summer through early winter. It is very reliable here, and is native to my area. The one caution I would give on this plant is that it does selfsow, and has invasive potential in very moist spots.

This is a very hardy plant that can withstand a bit of abuse (including being mowed). It forms nice clumps and in the south blooms almost non-stop throughout the year. In zone 9a, I find it will die back to the ground twice per year (aroud Feb./Mar. and again in July/Aug.) It is a prolific bloomer, though the blooms will shrivel up in the hot afternoon sun. There are three color variations: blue (most common), white (uncommon), and pink/magenta (rare). These plants will spread readily by seed. Plants may also be divided.

The flowers, leaves, and stems are edible and a great source of water--if you can stand the mucous-like excretions.