Baptisia alba - White False Indigo

Baptisia alba (Pendula Group), also known as the white false indigo, is a robust perennial with a spontaneous charm, even in poor soils. It offers a very pretty flowering in early summer, made up of small cream-white flowers arranged along dark and branched stems. These long spikes rise above a foliage of green-blue clover, whose texture remains interesting even outside of the flowering period. This plant is ideal in a border, in a romantic or natural garden. It should be grown in full sun, in well-drained acidic or neutral soil, even poor soil.

Baptisia alba (Pendula) is sometimes sold under the names Baptisia pendula, Baptisia alba 'Pendula', Baptisia alba var. pendula, Baptisia alba, Baptisia alba var. alba, and Baptisia alba (Pendula group). It is a bushy and very long-lived perennial plant of the legume family, native to the southern United States, specifically Tennessee and North Carolina to Florida. All baptisias grow spontaneously in meadows and woods, among tall grasses, without any care, perfectly tolerant to frost and dry summers.

The plant forms a large bushy clump reaching 80cm (32in) to 1.10m (4ft) in all directions. The flowering takes place in June-July, in the form of numerous creamy white papilionaceous flowers, measuring 45 to 50cm (18 to 20in) in length. They open in abundance on dark grey stems, set in calyxes of the same dark grey colour. The foliage, which disappears in winter, is also very ornamental when swaying in the wind. It is composed of leaves divided into three rounded leaflets, resembling those of alfalfa or clover. This plant develops from a particular root system, which dives very deep into the soil to extract and transform nutrients thanks to the presence of symbiotic bacteria housed in small nodules. Like all legumes, this baptisia contributes to enriching the soil in which it grows.

Baptisias are close relatives of lupins, which are much better known in Europe. They are much less demanding in terms of humidity but share a preference for acidic soils with them. These plants have very robust roots that allow them to live for a long time in our gardens, but they require time to establish themselves. A truly versatile plant, the white false indigo will find its place in a romantic garden, a dry garden, or in natural areas. It is also useful for decorating a degraded plot of land, which often surrounds a recently built house. It looks stunning when combined with roses, Camassia leichtlinii 'Alba Semiplena', Eremurus himalaicus, or Allium bulgaricum. It also pairs well with purple toadflaxes or hybrid mulleins, which are equally spectacular.

The vernacular name "false indigo" comes from the use that some Native American peoples made of these dye plants. Indeed, they provide dye pigments comparable to those of true indigos (of the Indigofera genus), but of lower quality.