You would like a shrub in that dry corner, but no shrub will get the job done. You want something which looks different. You want superlow maintenance. I’ve got just the right perennial for you: Baptisia is a quick-growing, uniquely blooming wildflower native to regions from the U.S. Central Plains to the East Coast. It does the work of a shrub but requires less water.
Missouri Botanical Garden
Botanical name: Baptisia australis
Common names: Blue wild indigo, wild blue indigo
Origin: Native in regions from the central Great Plains to the southeast and northeast U.S.
USDA zones: 3 to 9 (find your zone)
Water requirement: Medium to dry clay, sand
Light requirement: Full to partial sun
Mature size: 3 to 4 feet tall and wide
Advantages and tolerances: Easy perennial; drought tolerant; offers winter interest; attracts native bees
Seasonal interest: Good two-week blossom period in spring, followed by ornamental seed bombs that make a rattling sound
When to plant: Spring to fall
Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens
Distinguishing attributes. Spikes of tropical blossoms in mid to late May attract beneficial native bees (that can be better pollinators than honeybees). In spring the emerging spikes seem like asparagus, and in fall the seedpods are both decorative and rattle gently for added sensory interest. Baptisia’s size makes it like a shrub, but it has the quick growth of a recurrent flower.
Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens
The best way to use it. Use Baptisia for height and as a filler in the back or center of a dry edge, en masse, in groups of three or as single accents.
‘Carolina Moonlight’ (revealed) is a lemon-colored cultivar that performs exactly as well as the species plant. There’s also Baptisia australis var minor, which is a shorter variety that grows to about 2 feet tall and wide, and blossoms purple like the species.
Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens
Planting notes. Wherever you put Baptisia, make sure that is the final spot in which you would like it. Baptisia takes a couple of years to blossom, and it has a deep taproot (which makes it quite drought tolerant), so it reacts poorly to being transferred.
‘Twilight Prairieblues’ (revealed) is just another cultivar with dusky purple petals and a yellow base. Its leaves are inclined to be a smokier blue compared to species plant that is parasitic.
More flowers to attract birds, bees and butterflies