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Kathy’s Garden Writing |
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REDNECK LUPINE Don’t you just love some of the nicknames for plants? Redneck lupine is actually baptisia, an indigenous perennial much hardier than its fragile cousin. Baptisias have other aliases as well, hinting at their use by Native Americans and early settlers – false indigo, rattlepod, and horsefly weed to name a few. For gardeners, baptisias are simply wonderful perennials, blooming in May and June, in sun or part shade. The blue-hued, yellow, or white flowers carry us (and migrating butterflies) from spring bulbs to the proliferation of summer’s floral extravaganza. Bluish-green clover-like foliage and striking pea-pod seed packets also provide enduring interest when blossoms fade. Add to this their elegance in arrangements, and you have a winner. These members of the legume family were once found throughout much of eastern and central North America. In Pennsylvania, they still grow wild in woods and thickets, along stream banks, and in abandoned fields. In the southern and central states, however, they are gradually being added to threatened and endangered species’ lists due to encroaching development. The challenges of climate change should not affect these hardy plants, as they hold up to drought and heat, as well as through cold winters as far north as Vermont. But make sure you choose your planting site carefully; their deep and long-lived rhizomatous root systems do not like to be disturbed by transplanting. Because some baptisia species grow to shrub-like proportions, often maturing at five-feet tall and six feet wide, they can play a starring role in the landscape. To ensure a neat mounded appearance for this use, deadhead after bloom. Of the statuesque baptisias, the yellows bloom first and look lovely amidst purple-flowering ajuga or vinca. Next come the blues shades, including some recently cultivated bi-colors; add a yellow ground cover, perhaps a mossy sedum, for accent. The white baptisias flower last and are also the tallest. Try lamium or mossy phlox as a colorful rosy-pink companion. In the perennial bed proper, the smaller and more delicate baptisia minors work best, tucked in among other flowering plants for spiky architectural punctuation. Half the size of their taller relatives, their lacy foliage blends rather than overpowers. Many gardeners enjoy bringing sprigs of the outdoors into their homes, and baptisias do not disappoint. They should be cut when a third of the buds have opened, and used fresh, or hung upside down to dry for everlasting arrangements. The seed heads, harvested green and also hung upside down to dry, enhance wreaths and other decorations. So please don’t neglect these stalwart natives. Just because they do not come with the more refined lineage of their lupine cousins, baptisias are “perfectly formed specimen perennials … that can withstand the ravages of nature” (Horticulture Magazine). In fact, the University of Georgia’s plant trials gave them a perfect score; and the renowned Missouri Botanical Garden lists them in their “Great Plants” selection. Now who wouldn’t want to include these “rednecks” in their homes and gardens? For an excellent supplier, check out Lazy S’S Farm, at www.lazyssfarm.com. A family-run business, they grow all their own plants in an environmentally-friendly manner. There is no print catalogue, and only online orders are accepted. Kathleen Arcuri Published May 3, 2008 -- The Danville Daily Item |