Baptisia: How to Grow It + Newly Introduced Cultivars

One task I am not particularly looking forward to this spring is uprooting and moving a mature False Indigo, Baptisia australis. It's been in the same spot for at least a decade. It's not going to be easy to unearth its deep roots, but sadly it has to be done.

A garden like mine could easily be a full-time job, but the reality is that I have an average of just two to four hours a day to spend on it. When I added a new flowerbed to the backyard last summer, I did it knowing that something else would have to give. There was no way I could manage more garden in the same amount of time.

With a heavy heart, I decided to reduce the size of the front garden in favour of the more private backyard space. So last fall I moved just about everything but ran out of time before I could tackle the biggest job– the Baptisia you see in the picture above.

Spring is a terrible time to move it (it blooms in spring, so the fall would have been a little better), but it's a task that has to be finished.

Baptisia australis is a magnificent plant that demands very little. Fingers crossed I don't kill it!

Native Baptisia australis was used to produce a blue dye by Native Americans.

Baptisia australis is a native plant that can be found in woods, tickets and along stream banks in an area that stretches from southern Pennsylvania to North Carolina and Tennessee. It has purply-blue flower spikes and bluish-green leaves that make me think of peas or clover (it is a member of the pea family). Spent flowers become long, rounded seedpods that age to become deep charcoal.

As well as Baptisia australis, there is native Baptisia alba, which has white flowers and Baptisia tinctoria, which has yellow blooms. Baptisia minor is a smaller plant.

How to Grow Baptisia:

False Indigo, Baptisia australis can be grown in average to quite poor, well-drained soil. It can handle a little bit of light shade, but it would be much happier if you planted it in full sun. When it first emerges in the spring the fresh shoots of Baptisia australis are quite upright. The plant opens up slowly through it's blooming phase and becomes more of a vase shape.

This is a large, long-lived perennial. Think small shrub when you try to place it in the garden (Note: there are a few new cultivars that are more compact in size).

Baptisia requires patience. It grows quite slowly and may take a few years to get really established. As it grows, it develops deep and extensive roots that make moving it very difficult, so choose a spot carefully and stick with it.

The good news is Baptisia is very undemanding and virtually pest-free. I chop mine to the ground in the fall and that's just about all I do.

The reward is a spring showstopper that will be well worth the wait. As it has done in my garden,
Baptisia australis continues to grow and bloom in the same spot for decades.

Propagation:

Baptisia can be grown from seed, but you're in for a long wait. It may take as long as three years to see even a few flowers. I'd recommend investing in a decent sized nursery plant instead.

Once your Baptisia is established you can propagate new plants from stem cuttings in early spring.  I've tried it and it is fairly easy to do. Each cutting needs one set of leaf buds.

Plant type: Perennial

Height & Spread: Depending on the cultivar: 3-5 ft high x 5-6 ft wide

Flower: A range of colors including indigo-blue, yellow, white, pink, purple, lavender, maroon & bi-colors

Bloom period: Early spring

Leaf color: Fresh green to grey-green

Light: Full sun

Growing Conditions: Average to poor well-drained soil

Water requirements: Fairly drought tolerant once established

Companion Plants: Blue Star, Salvia, Gas Plant, Peony, Iris

Divide: This is a long-lived perennial that likes to stay put, but it can be divided every 4-5 years.

Notes: Deer resistant & pretty much pest-free.

USDA Zones: 4-9

Baptisia 'Vanilla Cream'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

Modern Cultivars

If you've haven't heard of Baptisia yet, there's a reason. They mature slowly, so I doubt they are a quick cash crop for growers. 

They're also a bit gangly and awkward in a nursery pot. The flowers on a young potted plant are small and don't exactly scream "buy me!" 

But the popularity this plant is growing and breeders have responded with new and exciting color choices. Here's a quick look at some of the many cultivars now available:

'Purple Smoke' 

'Purple Smoke'  makes a perfect backdrop for this Salvia. The Toronto Botanical Garden in spring.

False Indigo, Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' is a recent introduction from the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Smoky-blue flowers are carried on dark green stems and foliage. Height: 100-135 cm ( 39-53 inches), Spread: 75-90 cm (29-35 inches). USDA Zones: 4-9.

Cultivars with Similar Colors:

Baptisia 'Lunar Eclipse' (not shown) is initially creamy-lemon and ages into a medium to dark violet producing a pretty two-toned effect.
Baptisia 'Starlight Prairieblues' has lavender flowers.

Baptisia 'Pink Truffles'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

False Indigo, Baptisia Decadence® Deluxe 'Pink Truffles' has soft pink flowers that appear atop a compact clump of deep blue-green foliage. The flowers lighten to lavender with age. This is a smaller sized cultivar. Height: 107-122 cm (42-48 inches), Spread: 152-183 (60-72 inches). USDA zones: 4-9.

'Pink Lemonade'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

False Indigo, Baptisia Decadence® Deluxe 'Pink Lemonade' has soft yellow flowers that age to dusty raspberry-purple showing both colors at the same time. Height: 106-121 cm (42-48 inches), Spread: 116-121 cm (46-48 inches). USDA zones: 4-9.

Cultivars with Similar Colors:

Baptisia 'Solar Flare' has two-toned yellow and rusty-orange flowers.

Baptisia 'Vanilla Cream'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

False Indigo, Baptisia Decadence® Deluxe 'Vanilla Cream' has pastel yellow buds that open into vanilla flowers. The compact foliage emerges bronze in spring and becomes grey-green. This cultivar was selected for its petite size and unique flowers. Height: 76-90 cm (30-36 inches), Spread: 90-106 cm (36 - 42 inches). USDA zones: 4-9.

Baptisia 'Dutch Chocolate'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners®  

False Indigo, Baptisia Decadence® Deluxe 'Dutch Chocolate' has velvety chocolate-purple flowers above a compact, relatively short mound of deep blue-green foliage. This vigorous cultivar is well-suited to smaller urban gardens. Height: 76-90 cm (30-36 inches), Spread: 90-106 cm (36 - 42 inches). USDA zones: 4-9.

Cultivars with Similar Colors:

Baptisia 'Brownie Points' has two-toned yellow and caramel-brown flowers.
Baptisia 'Cherries Jubilee' has two-toned yellow and maroon flowers.
Baptisia 'Twilight Prairieblues' has smoky purple flowers.

'Sparkling Sapphires'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners®  

False Indigo, Baptisia Decadence® 'Sparkling Sapphires' has deep violet-colored flowers on a compact plant with deep blue-green foliage. Height: 76-90 cm (30-36 inches), Spread: 76-90 cm (30-36 inches). USDA zones: 4-9.

Cultivars with Similar Colors:

Baptisia 'Blue Towers' has periwinkle-blue flowers.
Baptisia 'Blueberry Sundae' has deep indigo-blue flowers.
Baptisia 'Indigo Spires' has deep reddish-purple flowers.
Baptisia 'Midnight Prairie blues' has deep purple flowers.

Baptisia 'Lemon Meringue'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

False Indigo, Baptisia Decadence® Deluxe 'Lemon Meringue' is a vigorous cultivar that has lemon-yellow flowers on a compact, upright mound of blue-green foliage. Height: 76-90 cm (30-36 inches), Spread: 76-90 cm (30-36 inches). USDA zones: 4-9.

 Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight' and a Salvia at its feet. Private garden, Fergus Ontario.

Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight'  Private garden, Toronto, Ontario.

Yellow False Indigo, Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight' has blue-green foliage with canary-yellow flowers. Height: 120-135 cm (47-53 inches), Spread: 80-90 cm (31-35 inches). USDA Zones: 4-9.

Note:You can find more information on the Proven Winners® cultivars at Provenwinners.com

Ideas for Companion Planting:

Plant Baptisia in the company of other spring bloomers including Gas Plant, Dictamnus Albus Blue Star, Amsonia, Bearded Iris, Peony, Catmint, Nepeta and Salvia.

 Yellow and blue Baptisia with pink flowering Phlomis tuberosa 'Amazone'. The Toronto Botanical Garden in spring.

Baptisia and Blue Star, Amsonia in my garden.

Baptisia and pale yellow Bearded Iris. Private garden, Toronto, Ontario.

Yellow Baptisia in the background with Catmint, Salvia and Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa 'Lemony Lace'. Private garden, Toronto, Ontario.

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A Pretty Cottage Garden

Not far from the lakeshore in Mississauga, there is a old neighbourhood where the streets are lined with majestic trees. Though Lorne Park is not far from the busy city centre, it still manages to feel quiet, remote and lushly green. 

Properties in this area have become so valuable that many of the neighbourhood's original homes have been torn down and replaced by million dollar mansions. You can spot the new builds in an instant. Their grand scale dominates the private lots. They lack both charm and character. 

Thankfully, a few of the neighbourhood's older homes remain. 

Sweet Rocket

Keith and Mary Ellen's Lorne Park home was built in 1914 by John Birch Canavan, a wealthy fur and woollen trader. At the time that the house was constructed, the area was still largely farmland, but it had already begun to be popular as a summer retreat for wealthy Torontonians, the Muskoka of its times.  

"Like most of the other summer homes in the area, Canavan’s house was built in the bungalow style" says Keith,"It has a steeply pitched roof and a wrap around glass-paned porch on two sides. Originally the house would have been situated on a large lot (now much diminished) with an abundance of trees that would have complemented its cottage demeanour."

"Despite the fact that the house has only changed hands a few times over the past hundred years, it still retains many of its original Edwardian features. In 2002, the City of Mississauga gave the house heritage designation to recognize its unique architectural character." 

While the different home owners managed to maintain the character of the house over the years, it seems that their interests didn’t extend to the surrounding land. 

"When we bought the house in 1992," says Keith,"the gardens consisted of scruffy lawns, untended areas of ground cover (mostly Lily of the Valley) and an overgrown cedar hedge that had seen better days. The house called out for the grace and charm of a traditional, informal cottage garden."

One area that need to be addressed was the damp area near the road.

"The road in front of our house still has the feel of a country lane," says Mary Ellen,"Without a sidewalk, the only thing separating the garden from the road is a shallow drainage ditch. When we bought the house, the area was shabby and neglected. The ditch was full of weeds, the old cedar hedge along the front of the property was leggy and spare, and the lawn was thin and sparse. The only redeeming feature was the line of black locust trees along the ditch and a large stately black walnut tree, a little bit closer to the house."

Spring flowers in the "ditch" garden include Bleeding Heart, spring bulbs and Sweet Rocket (seen in the centre).

Once the area was cleaned up, Mary Ellen was able to begin to plant. 

"After we took out the hedge, we needed to give the front some definition so we settled on day lilies, which provide much needed colour and grow well in the wild in similar conditions. In fact, our first plants were given to us by some of our relatives who live in the country in south-western Ontario." 

"While the shade from the trees doesn’t seem to bother the day lilies, it certainly had an adverse affect on the lawn, so over time I dug out around the trees and started introducing hostas, flowering shrubs, Shasta Daisies and red Monarda. Fortunately, even though the ground is sandy, the trees provide some much needed natural compost so the soil never needs amending. The plants have all self-sowed quite happily, so much so in fact, I have taken out some of the day lilies and replaced them with peonies, irises, tulips, sedum and a few judiciously placed flowering shrubs."  

"The garden can get quite moist, but there is still lots of sun and the soil drains well. Over time the beds have gradually expanded displacing more and more of the lawn which gives it the look that I was after. It does make keeping things under control quite a chore, so now that I am getting older, it’s time to downsize the flowers and put in more shrubs." 

The planting along the front walkway and along the front porch makes extensive use of hosta.

Hostas are the backbone of any garden and they seem to do particularly well in our area," says Mary Ellen, "I now have about two hundred mature hostas– almost all of which came from the few hostas that were here when we bought the house. We bought a few specimens over the years, but the vast majority have come from dividing the plants as they mature. "

"Because the house is raised, the lawn originally came up a small embankment about two metres high to meet the ground floor, which made it very difficult to mow and didn’t look particularly attractive so I decided to put in terraces instead using stone found in the garden to build a dry stack retaining wall." 

Yellow Fumitory, Corydalis lutea has wonderful bright green, ferny foliage. The plant's tiny flowers appear in late spring and blooms for months without any deadheading. Yellow Fumitory likes well-drained soil and cool, part-shade. This perennial is a ready self-seeder, but unwanted seedlings are easy to remove. Height: 20-40 cm (8-16 inches), Spread: 25-30 cm (10-12 inches). USDA zones: 3-9.

"Someone gave me a piece of yellow corydalis and since it likes to fill in cracks and crevices. It was a natural choice to soften the hard edges of the wall and provide some colour. The fact that it contrasts so nicely with the green of the hostas was just a happy coincidence," says Mary Ellen.  

I know many readers will look at these pristine hosta leaves and wonder what Mary Ellen does to control slug damage.

"I don’t do anything to control the slugs. I just let nature take its course. They are not much of a problem and, for the most part, don’t do very much damage. We have a lot more difficulty with cutworms and grubs," she says.  

Next we'll head into the backyard where there is a picturesque courtyard and pond.

"The shed at the back of the garden was probably built about the same time as the house. It certainly looks like its been around for a hundred years, but it was never really integrated with the rest of the garden,"says Mary Ellen.

"I remember reading in a book written many years ago by Beverley Nichols, the English gardener and writer, that a garden tells you where things should go. The trees and bushes point to where the flowers should be. It’s the same with the paths. If you follow the natural flow that leads you from one garden area to the next, that’s where the walk goes."

"All the paths are built with old bricks and flagstone that I recovered from various parts of the garden. A few years ago, I came out to find that one of my shrubs had sunk about two feet almost overnight. It turned out that, unbeknownst to me, I had planted it where the old well used to be and the soil that had been used as backfill had settled. That was a great source of bricks. The rest came from the retaining wall that was taken out when we rebuilt the old concrete patio at the back of the house."

  

"I have added more paths and small patios over the years. They provide a much needed balance to the softer elements in the garden and, as an added bonus, they cut down on the amount of lawn I have to mow." 

Some hamburgers, sausages and a few cases of beer lead to the creation of a pond in the back garden. Keith tells the full story:

"About ten years ago, a landscaping company asked us if we would be willing to host their “Build a Pond Day”, an annual event that they held to teach local contractors how to build a garden pond. We had a small pond that we had built in the back yard where the old well had been, but it didn’t really work, so we said “Why not?” 

"A few weeks later, about twenty contractors arrived bright and early with wheelbarrows and shovels in hand. By the end of the day, they had excavated the pond, wrestled several large boulders into place, installed the recirculating lines and built a small waterfall at one end. Considering that it would have taken a landscaper a week or two to complete the job (it’s a substantial pond about eight metres long and two metres wide) it was no small feat. And the cost? A couple of cases of beer and enough barbecued hamburgers and sausages to keep the workers happy."

The only thing that remained to be done was the planting.

"The landscaping company’s generosity however didn’t extend past the pond. They left it up to us to put in the plants and integrate the pond into the rest of the garden, which gave us a whole new area of garden design to explore," says Keith.

1. Bleeding Heart 2. Climbing Rose (white) 3. Peony 4. Bleeding Heart 5. Deutzia 6. Hosta 7. Rudbeckia 8. Bearded Iris 9. Spirea Goldmound 10. Spirea Goldflame

Mary Ellen's List of Plants for Spring Color:

Bleeding Heart, Spring Bulbs, Creeping Phlox, Lamium (groundcover)

Plants for Early Summer Color:

Peony, Climbing Rose, Bearded Iris, Hosta, Spirea, Miss Kim Lilac, Beauty Bush, Japanese Iris

Plants for Late Summer Color:

Phlox, Pink Diamond Hydrangea, Forever Hydrangea, Brown-eyed Susan or Rudbeckia, Annual Flowers

Star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum umbellatum is a member of the lily family and is a bulb that blooms in late spring. Star of Bethlehem is pretty, but be warned–it can be very aggressive. It should only be planted in an area where its invasive tendencies can be carefully contained.

Deutzia x lemoinei 'Compacta' (on the left above) has an upright habit and white flowers in spring. Plant it in sun to part-shade in average garden soil that is on the moist side. Prune in spring after flowering. Height: 4-6', Spread: the same. USDA Zones: 4-8. 

Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis, 'Alba' (on the right and in closeup above) has bright green foliage and white flowers. Height: 70-90 cm (27-35 inches), Spread: 70-90 cm (27-35 inches). Light shade to full shade. Average to moist soil. Hardy: Zones 2-9.

"The round metal sphere decorated with entwined vines and leaves provides a lovely counterpoint to the shrubs and flowers in the rest of the garden, but while it looks like a piece of garden sculpture, it actually started out life as a shade for a chandelier that we bought on a whim at a garage sale. When we looked around the house we realized that it really didn’t work as a light fixture, so we threw away the electrics and stuck the shade on a metal tripod. It’s been a feature of the garden ever since,"says  Mary Ellen. 

I think you'll agree that the work Mary Ellen and Keith have done on the landscaping really enhances the style and character of their century home. It may not be the grandest house in the neighbourhood, but it is certainly one of the nicest.

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Valentine's Day Keepsake

Roses on Valentine's Day are such a nice romantic gesture, but cut flowers have such a short life in a vase!

One way to extend the life of your roses is to dry them and create a little Valentine's Day keepsake. Here's a simple project that's pretty and easy to do.

What you need to make this project:

• 12 dried sweetheart roses

• 9 x 9" shadowbox (I got mine at Michael's)

• pencil

• cardboard heart to trace (optional-you can always draw a heart, if you prefer. I bought a package of hearts at Michael's that were already on clearance)

• linen card stock (optional- the frame I purchased had a beige linen back that could be used instead)

• scissors

• glue gun and glue sticks

How to dry your Sweetheart Roses:

Hanging roses to dry is really easy to do. 

Gather your roses into a bunch and secure then together with a rubber band. The stems will shrink a little as they dry. The rubber band will adjust nicely to the shrinking size of your rose stems.

Hang your roses to dry almost anywhere as long as it is out of the full sun (sunlight will cause the color to fade). I like to attach my roses to a doorknob. Use a loop of the elastic band to hang them with the roses facing downward.

Depending on humidity levels in your home, a bunch of roses may take a week to a week and a half to dry. Dried correctly, the stems of your roses will be stiff and hard. The roses themselves should be somewhat crisp to the touch.

Once your roses are dry, use a sharp pair of scissors to cut the roses from the stems. Make your cut as close as possible to the base of the flower. A short stem will help the rose sit flat on the linen card stock.

Don't discard the green leaves and stems. They come in handy later.

To help me with placement of my heart on the linen card stock, I traced the outline of the back of my 9" x 9" shadowbox with a pencil. 

Then I placed my heart in the centre and traced its outline as well. 

Optional: If you are making this for yourself or even someone else, you can add names, the occasion and the date to the centre of the heart in your very best script: 

Katherine & Heathcliff, 

Valentine's Day, 

February 2018

I was worried about getting my roses evenly spaced, so I put the first rose at the centre top of the heart and the next rose just below it at the bottom of the heart. 

To attach the roses I used a glue gun. A couple of pointers: my shadowbox was an inch and a half deep. To make sure the roses weren't going to be crushed and flattened by the frame's glass, I attached them on a very slight angle (rather than absolutely upright). I also flattened out the small green petals at the base of the flower and pressed the roses down firmly.

You will probably notice there is some variation in the size and shape of your roses. Alternating bigger buds with smaller roses is one way to compensate.

Again to ensure even spacing, I took the ten remaining roses put them all into place and made any little adjustments. When I was happy with the arrangement, I glued them into place.

Next, return to your pile of leaves and stems. Remove as many of the smaller leaves as you think you'll require to fill in the gaps between the roses.

Hot glue the leaves into position.

Cut the linen card stock down to the size of the inside of your frame and insert the finished heart into the shadowbox. 

The shadowbox will keep your dried roses dust free. Hang your finished project out of direct sunlight and the roses should keep their color for a year or so. 

New Perennials from Proven Winners

Bush Clematis 'Stand by Me'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

This is not a sponsored post, so I feel free to say that I have mixed feelings about new plant introductions. For one thing, they can be super pricy. Some introductions go on to become classics, while others never seem to catch on and disappear to make room for yet more plants.

But if, like me, you love plants, new introductions can be very tempting. Generally they offer some  improvement like a longer bloom time or a more compact shape. These shiny new features make new introductions alluringly collectable.

Take the Clematis above. How pretty and dainty it looks! And here it is again, this time in a container planting:

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

Clematis 'Stand by Me' is a non-vining herbaceous clematis that dies back to the ground at the end of the growing season. It has blue, bell-shaped flowers and will re-bloom throughout the season. Average, well-drained soil that is slightly alkaline is best. While its growth is upright, "Stand by Me' does benefit from staking, cages or neighbouring plants for support. Full sun or light shade. Height: 86-96 cm (34-38 inches), Spread: 60-70cm (24-28 inches) USDA zones: 3-7.

In the same container (above) is yet another new perennial that gardeners with part-shade will find interesting. Full-sized Goatsbeard, Aruncus dioicus is a huge plant. 'Chantilly Lace' is more compact and is better suited for small to average-sized suburban gardens.

It's also more drought tolerant than Astilbe.

Goatsbeard, Aruncus 'Chantilly Lace' produces beautiful sprays of lacy, cream-colored flowers. It has a similar look to an Astilbe, but is more drought tolerant. 'Chantilly Lace' grows best in moist, humus-rich soils. In northern climates, it can be grown in full sun provided it has adequate moisture. In southern zones, however, it prefers partial or full shade. Height: 76-80 cm (30-32 inches), Spread: 101-121 cm (40-48 inches) USDA zones: 3-7.

Hosta, Shadowland® 'Waterslide'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

One of my favourite purchases last year was a ruffled hosta, so of course, this new hosta caught my eye:

Hosta, Shadowland® 'Waterslide' has ruffled glaucous, blue-green leaves that hold their color all season long. It has lavender flowers in late summer. This perennial grows best in moist, well-drained, organically enriched soil. Full to part-shade. Height: 35-38 cm (14-15 inches), Spread: 76-81 cm (30-32 inches) USDA zones: 3-9.

Hemerocallis 'Orange Smoothie'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

Re-blooming daylilies are always a great asset, so a new peach cultivar would be nice to have. And I really like the ruffled edge on 'Orange Smoothie's' flower petals.

Daylily, Hemerocallis Rainbow Rhythm® 'Orange Smoothie' has orange-mango petals with a light rose band. It has a mounded shape and strong, well-branched, heavily budded scapes. 'Orange Smoothie' blooms in midsummer and again later in the season. This is a tough, adaptable perennial that will grow in almost any soil. Plant it in full sun for optimum flowering performance. Height: 50-60 cm (20-24 inches), Spread: 45-60 cm (40-48 inches) USDA zones: 3-9.

Tall Cushion Phlox 'Cloudburst'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

I try to add at least one new Phlox cultivar each year. This new introduction blooms earlier than most and might be a good one to add to my collection.

Tall Cushion Phlox 'Cloudburst' is an early blooming phlox with a broad, mounding, billowy habit. Lavender-purple flowers have bright pink eyes. Its dark green leaves are disease resistant. 'Cloudburst' grows best in consistently moist, well-drained soil and full sun. It thrives with regular fertilization and good air circulation. Height: 45-60 cm (26-28 inches), Spread: 38-42 cm (40-48 inches) USDA zones: 3-9.

'Superstar' and 'Popstar' (right). Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

It would be hard to choose between these two Sedums. I guess it might come down to which shade of pink you prefer:  

Stonecrop Sedum, Rock 'N Grow® 'Superstar' has dark turquoise foliage and forms a dense, compact mound with rosy-pink flowers. It performs best in full sun and poor to average, well-drained soil. 'Superstar' does not require supplemental water or fertilizer. Height: 25-30 (10-12 inches), Spread: 50-60 cm (20-24 inches). USDA Zones: 3-9

Stonecrop Sedum, Rock 'N Grow® 'Popstar' has blue-green foliage and has a dense, compact, mounded habit. The flowers are salmon-pink. It does best in full sun and poor to average, well-drained soil. 'Popstar' does not require supplemental water or fertilizer. Height: 20-30cm (8 - 10 inches), Spread:50-60cm (20 - 24 inches). USDA Zones: 3-9

Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

'Pink Lemonade'. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners® 

In the last few years, Baptisia has gone from a little-known perennial to one that is quite coveted. The old-fashioned classic with indigo-blue flowers is still one of my favourites, but breeders have managed to produce an amazing array of appealing colors.

My first reaction to this new cultivar (above) was that it would be hard to find a place for the unusual combination of pink and yellow, but then I began to warm to the mix. I could imagine 'Pink Lemonade' might compliment my white Gas Plant, Dictamnus albus quite nicely.

False Indigo, Baptisia Decadence® Deluxe 'Pink Lemonade' has soft yellow flowers that age to dusty raspberry purple, showing both colors at the same time. Pink Lemonade' grows best in full sun and average to poor, well-drained soil. Moderately drought tolerant once established. This is a long-lived perennial that does not need to be divided and prefers not to be moved. Height: 106-121 cm (42-48 inches), Spread: 116-121 cm (46-48 inches) Keep in mind that this is a large perennial that is almost shrub-like in scale. USDA zones: 4-9.

This ends this little preview of new perennials. I hope you've found something you'd like to add to your spring wish list.

(If you would like more information on any of these perennials, you can visit 

the Proven Winners website.)

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