Baptisia Decadence Series Dark Chocolate - False Indigo

Baptisia 'Dark Chocolate' is another beautiful variety of indigo lupin from the Decadence Series, which brings together hybrids with a compact and bushy habit and flowers with original colours. This one seduces with the dark and velvety hue of its spikes, a deep violet-purple almost black. This beautiful perennial, as ornamental and long-lasting as a bush, grows in a dense clump and is adorned with a beautiful ornamental trifoliate green-blue foliage even outside of flowering. Both hardy, undemanding, and drought-resistant once established, it makes an excellent plant for poor soils.

Baptisia 'Dark Chocolate' is a perennial plant from the Fabaceae family resulting from extensive research and hybridization. Its ancestors, the most well-known of which may be Baptisia australis, are all native to meadows and woods in the eastern and central United States (Texas, Oklahoma). They grow among tall grasses, without care, perfectly tolerating frost and dry summers. Their only enemy is active limestone, when it is too present in the soil.

The 'Dark Chocolate' variety forms a bushy and ramified clump that reaches on average 95cm (37in) in height and 50cm (20in) in spread, even 1m on a mature 10-year-old stump. Flowering begins in May-June, and continues for at least 3 weeks. This variety is often still in bloom when others have faded. Above a clump of leafy stems appear flower spikes of approximately 50cm (20in), whose main stem is very dark, charcoal-coloured, adorned with papilionaceous flowers in very dark, almost black shades. The overall impression when looking at this flowering is a dark and vibrant profusion, the result of a blend of very dark purple and violet, velvety, with a touch of yellow. The foliage, which disappears in winter, is also very ornamental as it sways in the wind. It is composed of green-blue leaves, divided into three rounded leaflets, resembling those of alfalfa or clover. This very perennial plant is capable of living for many years in the garden, without any particular care once well established.

Baptisias are close relatives of lupins, which are much more well-known in Europe, but they are much less demanding in terms of soil and moisture. They possess robust stumps that allow them to live as long as bushes in our gardens. They just need time to settle. The 'Dark Chocolate' indigo lupin finds its place in a contemporary or romantic garden, a dry garden, or in natural areas. It is also very useful for decorating a degraded plot, which often surrounds a recently built house. It looks superb alongside violet, white, or blue flowers, allowing for numerous combinations according to each gardener's taste. It can, for example, be associated with roses, Camassia leichtlinii 'Alba Semiplena', Eremurus, or Allium 'Globemaster'. It also pairs well with purple toadflaxes, annual poppies, or even with hybrid mulleins, which are also spectacular.

The vernacular name 'Indigo Lupin' comes from the use that some Native American peoples made of these dye plants. Indeed, they provide colouring pigments comparable to those of true indigos (from the Antillean genus Indigofera), but of lesser quality.