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Where do you put your False Indigo (Baptisia Australis)?

15 years ago

I have very healthy sprouts of it, but now I can't remember where I was going to put it. Now that all the perennials are coming up in the beds, I'm not sure I have enough room for the False Indigo. Am I right in thinking it doesn't like wet feet and it does tend to spread??

Anyone have pictures of where theirs is?

How does it behave in shade? (the blue one, not the white)

Linda

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Comments (7)

donn_
15 years ago
A clump of Baptisia will expand, but very very slowly. My largest is 5 years old (from WS) this season, and is only about 10" in diameter at its base.

I have several plants, in light shade to full sun. Some are in very lean soil and others in pretty rich soil. Those in lean soil and full sun are doing the best and expanding the fastest. They're also pretty drought tolerant, but none of mine are in wet conditions, so I can't comment on that.
sheltieche
15 years ago
it will be full on top up to 4 feet or so but base is small.
It does not spread, more like a shrub than perennial.
it has deep top root and hates transplanting so plant it in permanent location. Bloom early summer for me.
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Hi there, I guess you bought some Baptisia australis. I got my first plant by accident. I worked as a gardener for some private owner. And the lady told me to remove that plant (in a shady spot as recommended by the nursery!!) as she didnt like it. Having no clue what it was I potted it anyway and it made it through the winter on my balcony. The next spring I planted it in a mixed perennial bed at some old ladys garden. About 3 years later I could ID the plant as Baptisia. In the meantime it had developed nicely. A tough plant about knee high with proper stalks, growing on poor sandy soil, in a sunny spot, with ca. 580 ml/year and just some ocasional watering in the summer.I never found any seedlings. One reason could be that the owner cut back all the perennials in autumn prefering the bare `tidy`look for winter. At another occasion I tried to raise them from seeds in a seed mixture but they didnt make it. The bed wasnt watered at all while the stuff was supposed to germinate. I guess that was the problem. Just be patient with them as they are likely to sulk slightly in their first ca. 2 seasons. Cheers, Lin
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I cut my Purple Smoke Baptisia back to about 15 inches immediately after blooming this year. It has regrown to almost its original height and is perfect looking, with no flopping at all. Mine has always had a tendancy to splay open and flop somewhat after blooming, so I have been cutting it back some each year, but I never gave it such a drastic haircut until this year. Worked fine. Nice, bushy, upright & about the prettiest cleanest foliage of anything this time of year. Took surprisingly little time to regenerate itself, but as I said before, did not get quite as tall as it was originally. The problem that I had in previous years was that with a minor haircut it got even taller with regrowth than it was originally, somewhat out of proportion with other plantings in the bed, & still splayed open more than I liked. My baptisia is planted in amended rich fertile clay soil in an area that is somewhat high in my yard & on the dryish side (for my wettish garden). In less rich soil it might not need such drastic cutback treatment, but it was this or dig it out. BTW, it looked a lot like asparagus spears sticking out of the ground after I gave it the hard cutback, kind of ugly & scary looking, but I'm very happy with it now. Now it is sort of the perfect late summer/early fall plant that also managed to look good in spring & early summer - a very long season!
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bakemom_gw
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lblack61
Original Author
15 years ago
Hmmmm...Thanks for all the tips. You've all given me a better idea how to handle this.
It's amazing how quickly the garden beds have filled in. I'm truly running out of space. Gives me another reason to want to get the new pole-barn--and accompanying driveway-- built ('cuz, like, what's a pole-barn and drive-way without flowers planted around it?)

Linda
tiffy_z5_6_can
15 years ago
Here's a photo of a four year old - behind the rock. Acyually there's two there. Hasn't really bloomed yet in the photo so I would think this picture was taken at the start of July.

{{gwi:196914}}

The roots are massive. Some don't go deep but travel horizontally and when I first met up with them while weeding I had to take a step back! Some roots go for three feet and are as big as my thumb. But they don't seem to choke out other plants - it's not a fibrous root, but more like a carrot root. Know what I mean?

I planted one in another section and will be removing 2 rose bushes and several foxgloves from it's feet. In the future I'll just plant annuals such as California Poppies at the base.

Think of it as planting a shrub and you'll be fine. :O)
floodthelast
15 years ago
{{gwi:387437}}

This is my mom's, as I recall it is a foot and half wide and is at least ten years old. It gets quite tall when in season but starts small enough every year. She didn't know it didn't transplant well and got a start from a neighbor. Some of her seedlings made their way into my sister in law's garden with another plant too and seem fine. They really are gorgeous but my place is too wet to try them yet.
lblack61
Original Author
15 years ago
Tiffy and Flood,
Those are gorgeous pictures...thanks! :-)
I just love the leaves on them.
I think I'm going to chance growing them near the south eastern wall of the house. I always think that area doesn't get enough sun, but then I get sunflowers reseeding there...so it must be okay. It's pretty dry in that area and because usually I don't plant anything there, it just becomes a weed-fest by the end of the summer. I'd like to keep that from happening. So maybe putting the Baptisia there will help me pay attention to that area more.

Linda

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