Description
Baptisia – False Indigo – Wild Indigo –
There are about 30 species of erect or spreading perennials, in this genus. They occur in poor, gravelly soils in dry woodland and grassland in Eastern, Central and Souther USA, with a few species in river valleys. They have alternate, fully divided, 3 palmate leaves and tall branched stems bearing terminal or axillary racemes of blue, purple, yellow or white, pea like flowers, over a fairly long summer season. The flowers are followed by large often inflated pods. Grow in an informal border, open, hillside site, wild garden, or on a dry, sunny bank.
Grow in open, porous, neutral, preferably sandy soil in full sun. Deadhead after flowering. Divide in early spring.
Prone to weevils, fungal leaf spots, powdery mildew, and rust.
B. lactea – White False Indigo – This herbaceous perennial from Eastern USA grows 3′ feet tall and 2′ feet wide. From hairless often glaucous, purple tinged stems it carries palmate, mid green leaves divided into 3 elliptic-obovate leaflets, to 3″ long. In early summer it bears terminal, many flowered racemes of creamy white flowers to 1″ across, followed by pendent, pea like olive-green seed pods that turn black.
Zones 3-8
