PlantFiles: Summer Snapdragon, Angel Flower
Angelonia angustifolia

This is one of those sun lovers that has flowered well in partial shade for us; also, nothing has bothered it here in the years we've grown it - no bugs, no pests, no critters. For a garden too shady for delphiniums, this makes a wonderful partial-shade substitute for a spiky flower among mounding shapes.

When the seed pods were brown, dry & crispy, I harvested them and stored them in a paper envelope. Within a month of harvest, someone who received this seed from me obtained almost 100% germination. This was interesting for a plant known to have about a 10% germination rate. So, factors of seed storage, like length and duration need to be looked into more.

A lot of sources concur that germination occurs around 70*F after 2 weeks, give or take a few days, and that about 3 months' headstart before last spring frost date is needed. (One source said 4 - 5 days at 74*F worked for germination, but to grow on a little cooler in the 60s.)

[HYPERLINK@www.robsplants.com] noted that after germinating seed in dark, that there was no further germination in light.

[HYPERLINK@www.jlhudsonseeds.net] notes that smoke treatment often works for plants from parts of the world prone to wildfires, and there are places within A. angustifolia's origins that fit that description such as the Lesser Antiles of the West Indies. Mexico is also among this plant's sites of origin, but I don't know off-hand how prone its zone 9 areas are to wildfires. However, there are places like the Baja peninsula and southern California near Mexico that do get wildfires and might have zone 9 areas.

The above link from Hudson is an excellent description of how to apply the smoke treatment to plants.

This is the only flower in my garden that bumblebees visit. They love this flower and I love watching them. I don't know how there could be enough pollen in the flowers to keep them busy for so long.