Blue false indigo is a classic native prairie perennial with indigo blue, pea-like flowers on tapering spikes up to a foot long. The blooms rise just above dense, bushy mounds of soft blue-green leaves from mid to late spring.
After flowering, inflated seed pods turn black and stay attractive well into winter, and they can be dried for arrangements. At about four feet tall, it fills space like a shrub and lives for decades once established. It was named Perennial Plant of the Year in 2010 and holds an Award of Garden Merit.
What it looks like
Tapering spikes up to 12 inches long of pea-shaped flowers in true indigo blue to blue-violet, held just above the foliage. Leaves are three-parted with soft, oval leaflets in blue-green, densely clothing the stems in a bushy, shrub-like mound. The plant is about 4 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. At peak bloom it is capped with many indigo spikes; later, 2 to 3 inch pods ripen from green to charcoal black.
Growing it with lavender
Blue false indigo shares lavender's love of sun and lean, well-drained soil, and its indigo spikes echo lavender's color a few weeks earlier, while its blue-green mound anchors the back of a lavender bed.
Care
Plant in full sun to part shade in lean to average, well-drained soil; the deep taproot makes it drought tolerant once established. Hardy in USDA zones 3-9. Choose a permanent spot, since established plants do not like to be moved; expect a couple of seasons to settle in, and cut back in late fall or leave the seed pods for winter interest.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Baptisia australis
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Flower color: Indigo blue
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Foliage: Soft blue-green
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Growth habit: Bushy, shrub-like mound
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Mature size: 4 ft tall × 36 in–4 ft wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
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Light: full sun, part sun to part shade
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Bloom start: Mid-May
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Peak bloom: Late-May
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Bloom pattern: Single Flush
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Deer resistance: Resistant
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Pollinator value: Great
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.
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