BAPTISIA
Early every year, loud public relations fanfares blast throughout the horticultural world as various trade associations announce their special plant “selections” or prize picks for the upcoming growing season. More often than not, the honored plants are new introductions. The Perennial Plant Association (PPA), which is devoted to the promotion of herbaceous perennials, follows this tradition by choosing a single “Plant of the Year” annually. Unlike specimens selected by some other groups, PPA-honored plants have usually been on the market for at least a few years. Sometimes the Plant of the Year is a specific variety, like the 1998 winner, Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’, a purple coneflower. Occasionally, it is an entire species, like 1995’s Perovskia atriplicifolia or Russian sage. This year the PPA award winner is the lovely Baptisia australis.
Award-winning plants are always a reflection of trends in the horticultural industry and baptisia is a perfect example. It is a shrubby perennial, native to North America, easy to care for and repellant to rodents and deer because its parts contain bad tasting plant alkaloids. Baptisia’s “papilionaceous” or butterfly-like flowers are blue, which is the current fashionable color in plant circles. If it were only edible, it would be perfect in the eyes of plant merchandisers.
Baptisia australis, which is also sometimes known as ‘false indigo,” is part of a genus that includes more than 30 species of perennial plants. It is a member of the bean or legume family, which taxonomists used to call Leguminosae and now refer to as Fabaceae. It has relatives everywhere, ranging from common garden peas to black locust trees. The plant itself is 3-4 feet tall and wide, growing mostly upright. The racemes or flower clusters bloom in late spring or early summer and are borne in great profusion at the top of the stalks. The leaves, which are gray-green, are alternate and occur in groups of three leaflets. They will remind lupine lovers of lupine leaves–and with good reason. Lupines are also members of the legume family with butterfly-like flowers.
In fact, lupine fanciers, who have been discouraged because they cannot grow outstanding lupines in climates with hot, sticky summers, should rejoice in the popularity of baptisia. The plants have a similar appearance, but are much more tolerant of torrid conditions. Tony Avent, proprietor of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, North Carolina, refers to Baptisia australis as “Wild Blue Redneck Lupine.”
Blue and blue-purple are lovely colors, but what if you want variety? Baptisia australis does not offer much, but other baptisia species, including Baptisia alba, bracteata, sphaerocarpa and tinctoria bear flowers in shades of white, cream and yellow. Hybridizers have also been busy with various baptisias and have come up with ‘Carolina Moonlight’, with soft yellow flowers; ‘Wayne’s World’, with white blossoms and ‘Screamin Yellow’, which is just what you might imagine.
Perhaps even more exciting, from a color standpoint, are the highly-touted bi-color hybrids bred by Jim Ault, Ph.D., Director of Ornamental Plant Research at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Many merchandisers have featured Dr. Ault’s ‘Twilite Prairieblues’, with deep purple flowers accented with pale yellow. The Prairieblues series also features ‘Solar Flare Prairieblues,’ with yellow flowers that age to orange; ‘Starlite Prairieblues,’ bearing pale blue and white flowers; and the dark, blue-violet ‘Midnight Prairieblues.’ All combine exciting colors and vigor with the winning qualities of species baptisia,
The name “baptisia” comes from the same root word as “baptize” and means to dip or immerse. In this case, the reference is to the plant’s use as a substitute for true indigo, a dye plant native to the Caribbean. Most gardeners will not want to use it for dying, but may want to cut stems for indoor arrangements. Those stems are equally decorative if left on the plant after the flowers die, as they yield near-black seed pods. Grazing animals will reject Baptisia australis and the baptisia hybrids, but butterflies will not. The plants are a great addition to butterfly gardens.
Even the best garden plants have peculiarities. Baptisia australis can get leggy and flop over, especially after rainstorms. I solve this by encircling the whole plant with a lasso of green garden twine, anchored to two stakes. Baptisia is a robust specimen and needs a fair amount of growing room. If you buy young plants, surround them with complementary annuals for the first few years, so the perennials will have plenty of space when they get older. Also, try to plant young baptisia in a place where it can live happily for a long time. Baptisia, like many of the people who grow it, has a long taproot and resents being moved.
Now that Baptisia australis has received the PPA Plant of the Year award, it should be widely available this spring at nurseries and garden centers. If you want to order some of the other lovely baptisias, try Plant Delights Nursery, Inc., 9241 Sauls Road, Raleigh, NC 27603; (919) 772-4794; www.plantdelights.com. The catalog is free, but Plant Delights suggests that if you enjoy it; you send them either 10 stamps or 1 box of chocolates.