Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Baptisia Plant Profile


Baptisia Plant Profile

False Indigo (Baptisia spp.) is a low-maintenance, deer-resistant plant that looks wonderful in a mixed perennial garden. It is also known as wild indigo.

The common name stems from that fact that the Native Americans and early settlers used the plant to create colorful dyes.

The genus Baptisia is a US native that occurs naturally east of the Rocky Mountains. They are hardy from USDA Zones 4-8.

Baptisia is known as a long-lived plant with deep roots, so be sure you place it where you want to keep it for several decades.

Those deep roots also make it a very drought-tolerant and tough plant. It prefers to be planted in full sun and is not picky about soil type, as long as it is well-draining.

It can take a few years for a young plant to fill out on top, while it establishes those roots. But after year three in the garden, it should be about three feet wide and four to five feet high.

It dies back to the ground in the winter and reemerges with tall flower spikes in the spring. By summer, the flowers have turned to seed pods, which are quite attractive themselves and make a satisfying rattle-like noise in the breeze.

Baptisia is a terrific addition to a pollinator garden. It is the host plant for several caterpillars of moths and butterflies.

In 2016, the Mt. Cuba Center published the results of their Baptisia trials and the top-rated plants included ’Screamin’ Yellow’, ‘Lemon Meringue’, ‘Ivory Towers’, ‘Blue Towers’, ‘Purple Smoke’, and ‘Cherries Jubilee’.

Baptisia: You Can Grow That!

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine as part of our Plant Profile series for Mid-Atlantic USA gardeners.

Video and audio/text by Kathy Jentz

Edit by Taylor Edwards

If you enjoy this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our Youtube channel (thank you!)

Remember to TURN ON notifications to know when our new videos are out

FIND Washington Gardener Magazine ONLINE

~ WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com

~ http://twitter.com/WDCGardener

~ https://www.instagram.com/wdcgardener/

~ Facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine

~ Podcast: GardenDC

 PIN THIS FOR LATER!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Featured Post

Gifts for Gardeners ~ Gardening Gifts ~ Cool Gardening Gift Ideas

Today is Amazon Prime Day, so I thought I'd again share the garden products I use almost every day. These are the tried-and-true w...