{"id":6353,"date":"2018-03-10T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2018-03-10T17:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=6353"},"modified":"2017-10-09T18:15:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T22:15:00","slug":"baptisias-long-lived-native-perennials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2018\/03\/10\/baptisias-long-lived-native-perennials\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptisias – Long-Lived Native Perennials"},"content":{"rendered":"
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‘Carolina Moonlight’ baptisia<\/p><\/div>\n

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‘Purple Smoke’ baptisia at Mt Cuba Center, Greenville, DE<\/p><\/div>\n

Wild indigos or Baptisias (Baptisia spp.<\/span><\/em>)\u00a0are long-lived native perennials. Baptisias\u00a0are tap rooted perennials that will reward you for many years. They\u2019re sometimes mistaken for Carolina lupine (Thermopsis caroliniana<\/span><\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern day cultivars are hybrids of 4 Baptisia<\/em> species: purple (B. australis<\/span><\/em>), lavender blue (B. minor<\/span><\/em>), white (B. alba<\/span><\/em>), bright yellow (B. sphaerocarpa<\/span><\/em>). Several bicolors are also available. Baptisias bloom for 3 to 4 weeks.\u00a0Their blue-gray foliage and sturdy upright shrubby habit are pluses in the summer garden.<\/span><\/p>\n

Baptisias perform at their best in full sun. In the shade they bloom less and stems\u00a0are weak\u00a0and\u00a0frequently require staking. Baptisias prefer a deep\u00a0humus-rich well-drained soil, but tolerate average soil. Mulch with organic matter to keep the soil cool and weed-free.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vigorous plants grow 3 to 4 feet high and 4 to 5 feet wide after 3 to 5 years. Do not overcrowd. Newly planted baptisias should be watered until established, usually within\u00a0 1-2\u00a0year.\u00a0Plant<\/span>s are slow to establish and begin blooming, usually a few flowers in their first year and are covered with flowers in 3 to 4 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In early spring add 1-2 handfuls of a slow-release fertilizer around plants. Older\u00a0well established plants require little to no fertilizer as they produce\u00a0their own nitrogen. Yellowing of leaves in the summer is a symptom of iron deficiency or high soil pH. In such cases, feed with chelated iron or a water-soluble fertilizer such as Schultz\u2122 or Miracid\u2122.\u00a0Established plants are heat and drought tolerant and are almost invincible to disease and insect\u00a0problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stunning stalks of colorful pea-like flowers appear in mid-spring. Flowers stalks\u00a0give way to black seedpods by late July. Gardeners may opt to remove the seed pods before they mature. Flower arrangers utilize the ripe blacken seedpods in arrangements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cultivars with the deeper shades of blue and yellow blooms stand out in a garden. Popular cultivars include: \u2018Purple Smoke\u2019 (lavender flowers), \u2018Solar Flare\u2019 (yellow), \u2018Alba\u2019 (white), and \u2018Twilight Prairie Blues\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wild indigos or Baptisias (Baptisia spp.)\u00a0are long-lived native perennials. Baptisias\u00a0are tap rooted perennials that will reward you for many years. They\u2019re sometimes mistaken for Carolina lupine (Thermopsis caroliniana). Modern day cultivars are hybrids of 4 Baptisia species: purple (B. australis), lavender blue (B. minor), white (B. alba), bright yellow (B. sphaerocarpa). Several bicolors are also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1110,1319,605,521,645,674,806,665,1324,774,853,1263,551,627,625,843,1059,601,729,630,705,823,646,113,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6353"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10086,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6353\/revisions\/10086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}