![]() ![]() Other groundcovers that serve as a perfect foil for Baptisia include Iris tectorum, which usually coincides with mid-spring Baptisia flowering and any of the gold foliage acorus.provided the ground doesn't get too dry in summer.īaptisia also make a perfect companion for early spring flowering bulbs, as they can be timed so that their stalks emerge just after the bulbs have finished. I try to plant the artemisia several feet away from the base of the Baptisia so that only the outer branches surround the base of the Baptisia. The silver foliage of the artemisia nicely echos the blue in the Baptisia foliage. I like to play yellow against blue, so choose your color of groundcover according to your choice of Baptisia. Some of my favorites subservient plants for Baptisia include Artemisia 'Powis Castle', Veronica 'Sunshine', V. To do this, they should be planted among ground covers that highlight their best attributes. I like to use Baptisia as specimen plants where their structural form can be appreciated. I wasn't sure if there would be any Baptisia left, but once I arrived, it was truly amazing to find the Baptisia in the wild looking as good as they would have in a well watered garden, with full seed capsules intact. Weather reports lamented 50 consecutive days over 100 degrees, and no rain for over six months. ![]() I'll never forget one of my early Baptisia trips to northern Texas during the first week of August. Perhaps it is their amazing drought tolerance and ability to withstand the ravages of nature that attracts many gardeners to baptisias. In the perennial border, Baptisia has few equals, again for it's form and ability to serve as a focal point in spring, then as an attractive space filler during the summer. I cannot imagine a more perfectly formed specimen perennial than a well grown Baptisia. United States Plant Patent PP#23,872 awarded September 3, 2013.What is it about Baptisia that folks love? Perhaps it is their spiky architectural form, especially as they emerge, that garners favor among gardeners. It is a densely branched, mounded and compact perennial that grows 2 1/2 to 3 ft. It has black-purple buds that open into purple-brown flowers that are held on erect stems. 'Dutch Chocolate' is the result of a cross made in 2003 between an unnamed selection of Baptisia minor as the seed parent and an unnamed plant of Baptisia sphaerocarpa as the pollen parent. Decadence® false indigos were bred for desirable flower colors, a shorter, more compact habit, and to be hardy in Zones 4 to 9. 'Dutch Chocolate' is in the Decadence® series and was bred in 2003 by Hans Andrew Hansen of Walters Gardens, Inc. The common name of false indigo refers to the use of certain native baptisias by early American colonists as a substitutes, albeit inferior, for true indigo (genus Indigofera) in making dyes. ![]() The genus name Baptisia comes from the Greek word bapto meaning "to dye". The pea-like flowers are attractive to butterflies and other insect pollinators. The showy terminal flower spikes are followed by inflated seed pods. Often found growing in dry, gravelly soils they are deep-rooted plants with good drought and erosion tolerance. Baptisia is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennials growing mainly in dry woodland and grassland areas of eastern and southern U.S. ![]()
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