Indigo

[Tricky Grama]

We have lots of this plant-I think it's called blue indigo?? on our land & have tried to keep areas unmowed where it can re-seed along w/other wild flowers. I read somewhere that it was rare but not yet 'endangered'. If anyone would like some seed, PM me & I'll collect it for you, mail it to you or get it to you somehow.

Patty

[gardeneratlaw]

Lucky Patty. It's Baptisia australis, commonly known as Wild Blue Indigo or False Blue Indigo. A perennial of the pea family. Seeds are hard-coated like bluebonnets and benefit from scarification, nicking or sanding. Hard to transplant and hard to find in nurseries, so seed is the best way to grow. It's a beautiful April cut flower after the plants mature for 3 years - looks kinda-like a tall bluebonnet with blue-green foliage. If left to develop seedpods they become big bulbous light green pods, turning charcoal black with rattling seeds inside - that's the time to harvest them and plant the fresh seed.
Farming Baptisia was one of the first recorded examples of agricultural subsidies. The dye was used as a substiitute for true West Indian Indigo, but the process to extract it was incredibly cumbersome.
You can tell it is one of my favorite wildflowers, and I've also been blessed with a field of it that I'm trying to protect. It grows on a limestone outcropping without irrigation or fertilizer, so it's as tough as it is beautiful.
Cynthia

[Tricky Grama]

Cynthia-

Thanks so much for the indigo lesson! It IS a beautiful wildflower & we've tried very hard to protect it in our open fields. I've never tried to re-seed as it does this itself. But we leave large 'wild' areas that we don't mow so it & other wildflowers can re-seed. I'll send seeds to anyone who wants them, however I don't have planting instructions-I would imagine since the plant does well on it's own, seeds should be planted shallowly in the early fall?

Thanks again-
Patty