As a child one of the first wildflowers that I learned to identify was the spiderwort. The bright clusters of blue, purple, and pink flowers are at the perfect height for a child to examine carefully for bees. Spiderwort is a flower for the morning gardener. If you only enjoy your garden in the evening all you will see are tightly closed buds. I would always try to pick them to bring in a bouquet but spiderwort is a defiant plant. It wilts if you pick it to bring it indoors and it can't be pressed in a book. You have to enjoy it outside in it's own space.
Picking spiderwort also gives you the most beautiful shade of purple smeared fingers. Jan Phillips says that spiderwort leaves and stems can be eaten in a fresh salad but it is kind of gooey for me. When you break the stem a clear slimy sap runs out.
When you garden with spiderwort be careful to pick the right one, each species has different needs. The most common, Tradescantia ohiensis, grows tall in the prairie garden in summer. The blooms are blue from May-July and the plant needs the support of other plants to not flop over. You may also see this one on roadsides. In my yard I have Tradescantia ernestiana which is short and grows in the woodland garden. It blooms earlier with pink flowers in April and May and grows in multi-stemmed clumps. There are several more spiderwort varieties to choose from so pick the one that is best for your space.
The name Tradescantia was given to the genus in honor of the botanist who introduced it to England in 1629. Spiderwort is now naturalized there. In Missouri spiderwort can also be a little weedy but is easy to hand pull. In my garden it likes to come up in the path and in the compost pile.
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