Baptisia australis
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Baptisia australis
- From: t*@eddy.u-net.com (Tim Longville)
- Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 19:19:26 GMT
Barry: It's a pretty thing. Feathery blue-green foliage on a narrow
shrub to between 2' and 3' max (tho' often much less and usually
flowering in first year when no more than a few inches high), showy
red pea-flowers, followed by big seed-capsules which swell and change
colour as they mature, ending up like small parchment-coloured
sausages. It isn't hardy with me here outside on the Solway in N.W. UK
(soil too damp and heavy, climate too wet, I think, rather than too
cold) but I'd have thought ideal for a sandy well-drained bit of dry
Californian hillside. B. montana is marginally hardier, sturdier, more
robust, otherwise v. similar, and sometimes makes it through a winter
in the ground here. Very easy from seed and, sown early, possible to
treat as a showy annual. Hope that helps. Certainly well worth
growing.
Tim Longville
