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Indigo Spires False Indigo - Bare Root Plant

$20.90
$20.90 $41.20
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Size : Bare Root Plant
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Bare root arrives dormant

Expect new growth in 6 to 8 weeks after planting. Until then it can look lifeless, so you won’t be able to tell within 24 hours of arrival whether it will grow.

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About the Product

Indigo Spires forms a densely branched, fully rounded clump of glaucous green leaves that reach far down the stems, avoiding the bare, leggy look of some baptisias. In early summer, long spikes of deep violet purple flowers with yellow accents appear all around the plant, not just on top.

Secondary spikes keep it blooming into midsummer. At three and a half to four feet tall and wide, it can easily replace a shrub and will live for many years with little care. Deer leave it alone.

What it looks like

Long spikes 12 to 15 inches of pea-shaped flowers in deep violet purple with small yellow keel accents, borne on all sides of the plant. Leaves are three-parted with oval leaflets in glaucous blue-green, densely covering the stems nearly to the ground. The plant is a dense, fully rounded, shrub-like clump 42 to 48 inches tall and about 42 inches wide. At peak bloom violet spikes radiate from the entire dome of foliage.

Growing it with lavender

Indigo Spires grows in the same sunny, lean, well-drained soil as lavender, and its deep violet spikes overlap with lavender's first bloom for a layered purple planting.

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 4-9. 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

  • Botanical name: Baptisia
  • Flower color: Deep violet purple with yellow accents
  • Foliage: Glaucous blue-green
  • Growth habit: Dense, fully rounded, shrub-like clump
  • Mature size: 42 in–4 ft tall × 42 in wide
  • USDA hardiness zones: 4–9
  • Light: full sun, part sun to part shade
  • Bloom start: Early-June
  • Peak bloom: Mid-June
  • Bloom pattern: Long Blooming
  • Deer resistance: Resistant
  • 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.

View Product Details
Mature height
48.0 in
Mature spread
42.0 in
Bloom
Early-June – peak Mid-June
Fragrance
None
Deer
Resistant

Lavender companion · grow guide

How to grow Indigo Spires

False Indigo · Baptisia

False indigo wants full sun and a permanent spot. It grows a deep taproot, so it is slow the first couple of years, then becomes a long-lived, drought-tolerant, shrub-sized perennial.

Check my zone & planting dates
Indigo Spires
  • Full sunLight
  • Moderate waterAverage drainage
  • pH 5.5–7.5Soil
  • Zones 4a–9bHardiness
  • 48″ tall42″ wide
  • ResistantDeer · rabbits resistant
  • Mildly toxicPets
Huckleberry, the farm dog

Huckleberry saysTell me where you grow and I’ll check if Indigo Spires will thrive there.

Hardy in zones 4a–9b

Spring or early fall. Choose the spot carefully; mature plants resent moving.

Dormant bare-root false indigo as it arrives, laid on burlap

When it arrives

Your bare-root plant

Arrives as thick, dark, woody roots with a knobby crown and pink-white buds or old stem stubs. Soak 30 minutes, dig a deep hole, keep roots pointing down and buds about 1 in deep. Water in; growth can take weeks.

Expect new growth in 6 to 8 weeks after planting. Bare root ships March–May while dormant, with little or no top growth, and it can look lifeless until then. That’s normal. Thick, asparagus-like shoots push up in mid-spring, often purple-gray at first. Young plants may send up only a few stems; blooms usually start the second or third year.

You won’t be able to tell within 24 hours of arrival whether a dormant plant will grow.

When to plant

Spring or early fall. Choose the spot carefully; mature plants resent moving.

How deep

Set the crown so the pinkish buds sit about 1 in below the soil surface, with the long roots pointing straight down in a deep hole.

Spacing

About 3–4 ft apart; mature plants are shrub-sized.

Soil

Average loam; tolerates clay, rocky and poor soils · pH 5.5–7.5

Fix-it tip: It fixes its own nitrogen, so skip rich amendments. Loosen soil deeply for the taproot. NC State lists slightly acidic soil as best, but it adapts widely.

Sun

Full sun (tolerates part sun).

In shade, stems get leggy and the plant flops open after bloom.

Dormant
New growth

Don’t give up on it

Is it alive? What spring looks like

Thick, asparagus-like shoots push up in mid-spring, often purple-gray at first. Young plants may send up only a few stems; blooms usually start the second or third year.

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