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| 6/9/11 |
Baptisia pendula
Baptisia are slow to establish, and it took pendula two years before it started to fill the garden.
Baptisia pendula has been in the Birch Garden since 2008, and has a nice open, arching form. Bloom spires are white. It has a loose habit and I've had to stake it.
Seed pods are pendulous, attractive, so leave them on the plant. Trimming or shearing foliage after bloom keeps rounded plant appearance (and it won’t need staking,) but may eliminate the developing seed pods which are so attractive.
Baptisias keep their clean green foliage well into fall, then blacken at the first hard frost.
They have tap roots, so don't like to be moved. I love the charcoal black seedpods that rattle in the fall breezes.
Seed pods are pendulous, attractive, so leave them on the plant. Trimming or shearing foliage after bloom keeps rounded plant appearance (and it won’t need staking,) but may eliminate the developing seed pods which are so attractive.
Baptisias keep their clean green foliage well into fall, then blacken at the first hard frost.
They have tap roots, so don't like to be moved. I love the charcoal black seedpods that rattle in the fall breezes.
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| Baptisia pendula 6/9/2010 |
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| 5/31/12 |
By July, Baptisia 'alba' is done blooming. The upright shape of the stand of foliage is quite different than the bushy round form of most false indigos.
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| 6/12/13 |
I do like how arching and flowery this baptisia is. It has a great vase shaped form, stems that lean out and arch over, and a nice tall presence in the garden.
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| 6/18/13 |
And the rattly black seedpods are crazy.
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| 9/14/13 |
It starts out very upright on narrow stalks.
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| 6/5/14 |
It sends up frilly white stalks in mid June, still on upright stems. The flower stalks get tall and start to arch over in late June.
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| 6/20/14 |
After flowering, in summer, the whole plant cascades over into a giant mound. I staked it from underneath and needed strong posts and bungee cords to keep this mounded form from flopping out into the lawn.
Finally, after flowering is done, it forms a massive ball of clean fresh foliage all summer.
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| 2015: blooming on 6/10 and later in the summer, 7/28 |
