Baptisia australis

From my Twitter...

Baptisia australis is the scientific name for wild blue indigo, false indigo or even poor man's lupine. That last name is so mean, I hesitate to even include it on the list, but it does begin to hint at the positives of this plant. Think about it; if you are poor, you can't afford to buy your plants over and over and over and hope they do well in your garden right? Lupines sure qualify as plants you need to buy over and over (especially if you live in Ohio, like I do). And while I will certainly admit to buying more than one plant more than one time (ok...more than 3 times), I bought this plant once 9 years ago when I moved and lo and behold, it's still alive! Not only is it alive, it thrives on neglect! I have fogotten it on more than one occasion and it doesn't seem to care! The entire garden around it has moved, died, changed, been divided, sub divided and split yet again and the Baptisia is still a staple.

They are BIG plants. Mine is easily 5' tall. Its sideways spread is restricted in my yard by the presence of a (stupid) sidewalk, but the one at work is easily 5-6' wide as well! So don't be fooled by the small ones you get in containers at your local garden center. They start slow, but will end up as big, bold and bodacious plants that are a great backdrop, corner hugger, ugly spot hider or even (gasp!) focal point.

After the blue flowers fade in summer, the plant makes these great seedpods. They start green with a wonderful covering of soft down (puppies are not this soft), and ripen to the blackest black. Either way, they are great on, or off the plant in arrangements. The seeds are hard and make nice ammo for pea-shooters!

If you have full sun, some dirt (Baptisia doesn't care if you call it SOIL or not) that's not too wet, then you have a spot for this year's Perennial Plant of the Year. I've never had a problem with mine in 9 years, not one critter, not one insect. I baby it with neglect and it performs regally, time and time again. What more could you ask from a plant?