Baptisia australis

There are so many varieties of Baptista on the market these days - we love them all but have a hard time deciding between them so we simply grow the original. It is a tough long-lived, low maintenance shrubby perennial. Beautiful rounded glaucous foliage is smothered in hundreds of purple-blue pea-like blossoms in late spring. Dried rattling seed pods lend ornament to the winter garden.

Distinctions: Winner of an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticulture Society; Selected as Perennial Plant of the Year from the Perennial Plant Association.

Zones: 3 to 9

Family: Papilionaceae

Type: Perennial

Height: 36 to 48 in.

Spread: 36 to 48 in.

Exposure: Full Sun

Soil Conditions: Dry, well-drained, average

Bloom Time: June to August

Bloom Color: Lilac-blue

Native Range: eastern North America

Image Credits:

Image 1 (blooms) Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Image 2 (foliage) Assianir, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Image 3 (young seed pods) R. A. Nonenmacher, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Image 4 (in garden) Cornusflorida, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons