Baptisias

'Purple Smoke' baptisia

Baptisia (Baptisia spp.) are beautiful long-lived low maintenance native perennials. Plants thrive in rich well-drained soil under plenty of sunlight. When planting, treat the roots as fragile and permit baptisia one year to establish itself. They will reward you with many years of spring flowering.

False blue indigo (Baptisia australis) was selected Perennial Plant Of The Year in 2010 by the Perennial Plant Association.  Most modern day cultivars are usually hybrids. Lovely spikes of purple (B. australis), lavender blue (B. minor), white (B. alba), bright yellow (B. sphaerocarpa) and bicolors appear in May (in Tennessee). Each species or cultivar blooms for 2-3 weeks.  Bloom stalks can be included in fresh flower arrangements

Plants grown in partial shade may appear stretched or leggy, requiring some staking. Fewer flower spikes are produced in shady places. I opt to remove the pea -like pods that form within a month after flowering because the weighty pods may detract from its shrub-like appearance. Plants are cut down to the ground in late fall and added to the compost bin.

Blue false indigo is a beautiful, long-lived, drought tolerant perennial with a robust habit and attractive steel blue-gray foliage. In late May, its intensely saturated violet-blue flower spikes rise above 3-4 feet tall multi-stemmed plants with bluish-green foliage.

Baptisias are at their best in full sun and in moist, well-drained soils. Fertilize sparingly to avoid the plant from flopping.  If grown in full sun, you do not need to stake baptisia. Baptisia is heat and drought tolerant and rarely troubled by diseases and insects.

The single plant spreads slowly by rhizomes and eventually will crowd out neighboring plants. Divide clumps every 5 -7 years and share divisions with your gardening friends or start new plantings.