Baptisia australis
The following article is being submitted by Heidi Brosseau – our retail manager.
I am so excited about the 2010 Perennial Plant Associations pick for Plant of the Year! Baptisia australis, aka False or Wild Indigo. This is one of my all time favorite perennials. It is a hardy native prairie perennial that has never let me down. It reappears each year as a strong, healthy shrub-like clump. Beautiful small blue-green leaves on sturdy stems end in tapered spikes of indigo-blue flowers in early summer. The showy flowers turn into green pods that kind of blend in until late summer and fall when they start to dry and turn black. That’s when this plant becomes interesting to children (big and small) because the dry pods rattle when you shake them. If you put this plant in a location where a stiff wind might stir it in late summer and early fall, then the False Indigo will rustle and rattle for you all on its own!
Baptisia prefers well drained soil and full sun but will thrive in a location that only offers the hot afternoon sun. The flowers and the pods make it a great plant for cutting. It attracts butterflies and resists deer browse. Hardy to zones 4-9 with a mature height and width of 3′-4′
Good companion plants: Great in front of something like Joe-Pye-Weed (Eupratorium), planted near Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia), Yarrow (Achillea) or any of the Coneflowers (Echinacea).
Other things I must mention: There are some very new and exciting varieties of Baptisia available that stretch the color palette of this plant into yellows, purples and even maroons. If you are interested in Baptisia australis be sure you check out some of these other varieties that are sure to become favorites as well. Carolina Moonlight, Midnite Praireblues, Solar Flare, Starlite Prairieblues, and Twilite Prairieblues. These will be available here at the nursery this season!
As always – be sure to try our Plant Search tool located right on our home page. We have most of our trees and shrubs on the Search Tool and are getting more and more of our perennials featured here.
