(Oat)

Oats once fueled ancient agricultural endeavors as essential forage for livestock, but in today’s world they are a key grain for cereals and breads. Modern oats (Avena sativa) are annual grasses thought to have originated from southeastern Europe and first cultivated around 1,000 B.C. They are believed to be the hybrid progeny of wild oats (Avena fatua) and wild red oats (Avena sterilis). Historically, they were considered less than desirable weeds that infested fields...

(Bush Groundsel, Cottonseed Tree, Sea Myrtle)

A puffy-seeded shrub that handles dry and wet soils as well as salty groung, bush groundsel is its prettiest in summer and autumn. Typically evergreen in milder climates, this billowy plant has upright to arching stems that is often lax and floppy, but more rounded shrubs are encountered. It is native to the United States from Massachusetts to Texas as well as in nearby Mexico and the West Indies.

Softly light green, the foliage is small oval leaves with irregular, jae\gged edges. Plants are...

(Desert Marigold)

Desert marigold is a tender, perennial wildflower that offers a brilliant show for a short time in spring. It is native to the low deserts of southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. There it’s found in infertile, sandy or gravelly soils. It is visible in large populations for weeks in spring when new plants sprout from seeds. Only in the warmest regions do plants become perennial as they do not stand the slightest frost. Even there most fail to survive extreme summer heat and drought. However, in...

(Arrowleaf Balsamroot)

This cheerful golden-flowered perennial is a tough compact mountain dweller. It is native to most western states, and western Canada, where it inhabits forest clearings and sandy outcrops from 1000 feet (304.8 m) up to the timber line. Each plant produces a very large carrot-like root that affords excellent drought resistance where summer rainfall is rare.

The short wide-leaved plants produce individual clumps of emerald green, and put forth many leafless stems topped with golden daisies in...

(Carolina Moonlight False Indigo, Hybrid False Indigo)

Beautifully clumping with upright stems clothed in bluish green leaves, Carolina Moonlight false indigo has pretty spikes of light yellow flowers in mid-spring to early summer. A hybrid herbaceous perennial, it resulted from the cross of Baptisia alba with B. sphaerocarpa. It is slow growing with a deep taproot.

The blue-green to light green leaves have three oval leaflets. Depending on severity of the winter, the emergent stems and leaves will produce an upright flower spike...

(Hybrid False Indigo)

Beautifully clumping with upright stems clothed in bluish green leaves, Chocolate Chip false indigo has pretty spikes of brown-burgundy flowers in mid-spring to early summer. A hybrid herbaceous perennial, it resulted from the cross of Baptisia alba with B. sphaerocarpa. It is slow growing with a deep taproot.

The blue-green to light green leaves have three oval leaflets. Depending on severity of the winter, the emergent stems and leaves will produce an upright flower spike...

(White False Indigo)

Beautifully clumping with upright purple-gray stems clothed in bluish green leaves, white false indigo has pretty spikes of white, lupine-like flowers in mid-spring to early summer. An herbaceous perennial from the dry woods in the southeastern United States, it is slow growing with a deep taproot.

The blue-green to light green leaves have three oval leaflets. Depending on severity of the winter, the emergent stems and leaves will produce an upright flower spike as early as mid-spring, or later...

(Blue False Indigo, Plains False Indigo)

When looking upon a mature false indigo in bloom it looks much like a small shrub, but it’s truly an herbaceous perennial, meaning it dies back to the ground each year. Native populations of false indigo exist across a large part of eastern North America, in all but a few of the most southern states. They tend to grow in old-fields, prairies and other open wild areas. Some Native American tribes used Baptisia roots for medicine and the flowers or flowering stems for the dye they yield. Despite...

(Dwarf Blue False Indigo)

This is a shorter variety of the large, bushy perennial, false indigo, so it's better suited to smaller garden spaces. Native populations of false indigo exist across a large part of eastern North America, in all but a few of the most southern states. They tend to grow in old-fields, prairies and other open wild areas. Some Native American tribes used Baptisia roots for medicine and the flowers or flowering stems for the dye they yield. Despite the common name, false indigo dye is not blue...

(Yellow False Indigo)

Yellow wild indigo is a mounding perennial with attractive yellow pea-like flowers and blue-green foliage. This southern United States native flowers in the springtime on light green stems held above the dense foliage. The tan or brown colored seedpods that form afterwards are also an ornamental feature. Various butterflies will visit the flowers when open.

Yellow wild indigo needs a full sun location for best form and flowering, but also handles up to partial shade. Tolerant of drought, nutrient...