Baptisia australis

Wild Blue Indigo is a tall (three to four feet), sturdy, sun-loving, shrub-sized perennial with upright racemes of pea-like flowers ranging from bright blue to deep indigo held above the foliage. Being a legume, it can fix nitrogen and therefore tolerates poor soils gracefully. It blooms in May and June. The blue of the flowers complements the bright green foliage which remains attractive all summer, even after blooming. The flowers are wonderful as cut flowers, and the ensuing dark black seed pods are valued for dried arrangments as well. It often has low seed viability, but it does reproduce by rhizomes. Being deeply rooted, Wild Blue Indigo is difficult to move once established, but also fairly drought tolerant. This is a long lived plant, flowering for many years. It is known to be host to some beautiful butterflies, among them the Eastern Tailed Blue, Orange Sulphur and Clouded Sulphur butterflies.