Baptisias, the wild or false indigos, are long-lived native perennials of the pea family, grown for tall spring flower spikes and a handsome, shrub-like habit. The bloom comes in blue, violet, yellow, cream, and smoky shades, followed by inflated seed pods that blacken and rattle and hold interest into fall. Deep-rooted and enormously durable, a baptisia settles in slowly and then persists, unbothered, for a generation or more.

In the landscape baptisias work almost like flowering shrubs. A mature clump stands waist-high or more, holds a rounded, self-supporting shape all season on clean blue-green foliage, and needs no staking or dividing. Set at the back of a border, in a meadow planting, or as a specimen, they give structure and spring color and then quietly earn their keep as foliage for the rest of the year.

We grow baptisias because they are among the toughest and most rewarding of native perennials, and because they carry real ecological weight. As legumes they enrich the soil they grow in; their flowers feed bumblebees and other native bees; and they host the caterpillars of several butterflies. Long-lived, drought-tolerant, and deer-resistant, a baptisia is close to a plant-it-and-forget-it perennial.

Give them full sun and good drainage, and be patient, since they take a year or two to hit their stride and resent being moved once settled. Set them among our Herbaceous Perennials and Sun Lovers, and find more regional perennials in our Southeastern Natives.