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Jesse Saylor
Fabaceae
AMORPHA fruticosa
Bastard Indigo, Desert False Indigo
This entry has yet to be reviewed and approved by L2G editors.
Although having lovely green foliage, the desert false indigo's habit find few gardeners in love with it. The blue-violet to indigo colored flower spikes occur in midsummer. A spreading but also upright, rather unkempt deciduous shrub, it is native to a wide expanse of the eastern United States and southcentral Canada as well as in moister canyons and steamsides in the southwest America deserts. Often considered weedy, it is a tough, durable plant.
The pleasant bright green leaves are made up of 13-33 oval leaflets, perhaps its prettiest feature. The sprawling gray-brown stems are topped by flinger-like spikes of indigo blue-violet, pea-shaped flowers in late spring or early summer. Each has orange colored anthers that carry the pollen which is collected by beeds and butterflies. It loses its foliage in winter to reveal the seemingly untidy looking naked branches.
Grow desert false indigo in full to partial sun in moist, fertile to nutrient poor soils with good drainage. It is quite tolerant of heat and drought and thus makes it very useful to green up areas where few other plants grow nicely. Once established, it will persevere, sometimes reseeding and becoming invasive, such as in the American Northeast. If trained, the lowest branches can be removed to create a more upright shrub that looks like a small tree. Use it in the water conserving garden as an accent or to vegetate barren areas in urban concrete matrices.
9 - 1
2 - 8
A1, A2, A3, 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Shrub
Full Sun, Partial Sun
8'-15' / 2.4m - 4.6m
Late Spring, Early Summer
North America, United States, Mid-Atlantic United States, Southeastern United States, North-Central United States, Central United States, South-Central United States, Southwestern United States, California, Texas, Mexico
Acidic, Neutral
Average
Loam, Sand
Drought
Fast
Drought Tolerant, Average Water
Spreading
Spring, Summer
Showy
Indigo, Blue Violet
Green
Sandy Brown, Gray
No
Yes
Single
Medium
Matte
Smooth
Foundation, Mixed Border, Rock Garden / Wall, Screening / Wind Break
Sometimes
Butterflies
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