Description

Monkey Flower, Mimulus ringens

DEEPOT

Light: Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture: Wet, Moist

Soil: Rich, Loamy

Height: 1–3 feet

Bloom Season: July, August, September

Bloom Color: Purple/Lilac

Benefits: Butterflies, Bumblebees

Deer Resistance: Tolerates

Notes:

Monkey flowers feature lilac to purple snapdragon-like blossoms that are 1 ½ inches long, appearing on 2-inch-long slender stems that grow in pairs from the plant’s leaf axils. Each blossom has an upper petal with two lobes, a lower petal with three lobes, and is often spotted and multicolored—the overall appearance of which resembles a monkey’s face. The blooming season is long, lasting much of the summer.

This plant has square, erect, sometimes branching stems. The leaves are opposite, 2 to 4 inches long, oblong to lanceolate in shape with fine widely spaced teeth. The fruit is a dry capsule, oblong in shape, each containing from 500 to 1000 seeds.

Bumblebees visit the flowers for nectar, being one of the few insects that are strong enough to force their way into the partially closed throat of the corolla. The larvae of moths and butterflies feed on the foliage. Monkey Flower is the larval host to the Baltimore Checkerspot Euphydryas phaeton and the Common Buckeye Junonia coenia.

Monkey flowers prefer moist to wet soil. They are well-suited to water gardens, wet meadows, pond or stream banks, or low woods. They are lovely in mass plantings or flower borders—as long as the soil is kept moist. A layer of mulch helps prevent moisture evaporation. Deadhead faded blossoms to encourage additional flowers. This plant may spread by both self-seeding and creeping rhizomes.