Baptisia Decadence Series Pink Lemonade - False Indigo

Baptisia 'Pink Lemonade' is a brand new variety of Indigo Lupin from the Decadence Deluxe series, which brings together a series of hybrids with a compact and bushy habit and flowers with very original colours. This one is seductive with its unprecedented, overall bicolour and pastel shade of its spikes, a mix of tender yellow and raspberry pink-violet. This beautiful perennial, as ornamental and durable as a bush, grows in dense clumps and is adorned with beautiful green-blue trifoliate foliage, ornamental even outside of flowering. Both hardy, undemanding, and drought-resistant once established, it is an excellent plant for poor soils.

Baptisia 'Pink Lemonade', recently obtained in the United States in 2015, is a perennial plant from the Fabaceae family resulting from extensive research and hybridization. Its ancestors, including the best-known Baptisia australis, are all native to the meadows and woods of the eastern and central United States (Texas, Oklahoma). They grow among tall grasses, without any care, perfectly tolerating frost and dry summers. Their only enemy is active limestone, when it is too present in the soil.

The 'Pink Lemonade' variety forms a bushy and ramified clump reaching an average height of 1.10m (4ft) and a width of 1.20m (4ft). 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, spikes of 35-40cm (14-16in) appear, with a very dark, charcoal-coloured main stem, adorned with papillonaceous flowers in very unusual shades for these hybrids. The overall impression when looking at this flowering is bicolour, resulting from the mix of tender yellow flowers, both yellow and pink flowers that are older, and mature mauve-violet flowers. The foliage, which disappears in winter, is also very ornamental as it sways in the wind. It consists 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 special care once well established.

Baptisia are close cousins of lupins, which are much better known in Europe, but they are much less demanding in terms of soil and moisture. They have very robust roots, allowing them to live as long as shrubs in our gardens. They just need time to settle. A true camel plant, the 'Pink Lemonade' indigo lupin will find its place in a contemporary, romantic, 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 paired with white or blue flowers, allowing for numerous associations according to each gardener's taste. For example, it can be paired with roses, Camassia leichtlinii 'Alba Semiplena', Eremurus himalaicus, or Allium bulgaricum. It also pairs well with bear's breeches, annual poppies, or hybrid mulleins, which are equally spectacular.

The vernacular name 'Indigo Lupin' 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 (from the Antillean genus Indigofera), but of lesser quality.