Baptisia bracteata var. leucophaea is a long-lived denizen of the central U.S. that produces racemes of creamy white to butter yellow flowers in mid- to late spring. It grows in upland prairies, glades, forest openings, pastures, and along railways and roads. Common names include longbract wild indigo and cream wild indigo. Its habit is bushy, with multiple, arching stems and branches that spread out horizontally and often touch the ground. Unlike other members of Baptisia, cream false indigo's infloresceces are lateral, emerging from the side of the plant rather than at the top of vertical stems. The pea-like flowers mature to 1"-2" long cylindrical seed pods, which give interest later in the season and are prized in dried flower arrangements. The arching habit is striking and well-suited to mass plantings in a meadow or pollinator garden, or as a specimen in a border or cottage garden. Hosts bees, butterflies, and caterpillars.
A very tolerant player, longbract wild indigo thrives in full sun, and is best grown in evenly moist to dry, loose, well-draining, sandy loams. However, it's not too fussy about soil conditions. Tolerates drought, and hot, dry conditions, but water well when first planted. After it's established, the deep taproot makes it resilient in the face of limited rainfall. The same taproot resists transplanting, so place where you want it to stay. Like other members of the genus, it takes time to get a mature plant but is well worth the wait.
Space plants 30"-36" on center.
Longbract wild indigo drapes widely when in full bloom, forming a crown of buttery flower-covered stems. It is long-lived, and the spread increases over time. Planting at 30"-36" is recommended. It may take several years for it to fill in, but your patience will be rewarded when it matures. Avoid planting too close to companion plants, because Baptisia bracteata var. leucophaeae can flop over them.
Baptisia bracteata var. leucophaea does best in open areas where competition from taller plants is reduced. Well-sized companions include other sun-loving species that thrive in well-drained soils, like Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed), Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama), Euphorbia corollata (flowering spurge), Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster), Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf tickseed), and Phlox pilosa (downy phlox).
The species, Baptisia bracteata, has at various times been split into three varieties: B. bracteata var. bracteata, B. bracteata var. laevicaulis, and B. bracteata var. leucophaea. B. bracteaea var. bracteata is a Southeastern variety that is disjunct from the other two (i.e., closely related but physically separated from other populations by considerable distance). The latter two have overlapping distributions, with B. bracteata var. leucopheae being the most widespread. It occupies a broad band from Wisconsin down through eastern Texas. Some taxonomists have elevated this variety to species level (i.e., Baptisia leucophaea), but we're listing it for now at the variety level.
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Would you like your plants shipped later? You may choose to do so in the shopping cart.
Note: Early spring shipments might include plants that have not yet broken dormancy, or have not been vernalized and will be frost-tender. Please use your best judgment when selecting your preferred ship week.
Did you know? When plants are available from multiple growers, we list growers closest to your location first.
Why choose plants from the nearest grower? Choosing a the grower closest to you makes it more likely the plants are consistent with your ecoregion and better adapted to your location. In addition, shipping plants shorter distances typically uses fewer resources, something we can all get behind!
Recorded County Distribution: USDA data.
AR, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MI, MN, MO, MS, NE, NJ, OK, SD, TN, WI, LA, TX |
MAP OF WETLAND DELINEATION REGIONS
Code |
Status |
Designation |
Comment |
OBL |
Obligate Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Almost always occur in wetlands |
FACW |
Facultative Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Usually occur in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands |
FAC |
Facultative |
Hydrophyte |
Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands |
FACU |
Facultative Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands |
UPL |
Obligate Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Almost never occur in wetlands |
Kingdom | Plantae | Plants |
Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants |
Superdivision | Spermatophyta | Seed plants |
Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants |
Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons |
Subclass | Rosidae | |
Order | Fabales | |
Family | Fabaceae | Pea family |
Genus | Baptisia | wild indigo |
Species | Baptisia bracteata var. leucophaea | longbract wild indigo |
cream false indigo, plains wild indigo, large-bracted wild indigo, cream white indigo
Baptisia bracteata var. glabrescens
Baptisia leucophaea
Baptisia leucophaea var. glabrescens
Baptisia bracteata var. laevicaulis
Sizes info
Shipping is free on all plants orders!
Your plants will ship using each grower’s preferred method: FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, or Spee-Dee Ground (in select midwestern states). Our growers ship orders Monday through Wednesday. The farther your plants need to travel, the earlier in the week they will ship. The goal is to have all plants delivered by the end of the week.
Shipping plugs:
Plugs are shipped in full flats, sometimes also referred to as trays. Multiple flats can be shipped in a single box. The flats are wrapped in netting or craft paper to secure the plants, and spacers are used between flats to keep the plants from being crushed.
When you unpack your plugs, the plants will have been somewhat flattened by the netting or craft paper. They will straighten out within a couple of days. You may also gently “fluff” them a bit to speed up the process. In some cases, your plants might have been cut back before packing, if the grower deemed them to have become too tall for safe packaging. Don’t worry, though, these guys know what they’re doing and would not compromise the health of the plants. They’ll fill back in in no time.
After receiving your plants’ journey in a dark box, it will be important to acclimate them to sunlight again. Over a couple of days, you should gradually move them into their preferred light exposure, and water them as per their requirement.
Although we always recommend putting your plants in the ground as soon as possible, they can stay healthy in the flats for a considerable amount of time. The key is to respect their growing requirements: if the species requires full sun, do not store them in the shade. If it is best adapted to dry soil, do not over-water.
Planting plugs:
We consider plugs ready to ship when the plants’ roots have filled the entire liner cell and the plants can easily be pulled out. In some cases you will have to go about it gently, wiggling the plant by the crown, and possibly squeezing the bottom of the liner to compress the growing medium and release the roots. Other times, the plants will appear to be root bound. They are not in the traditional sense. The plants are healthy but they have used up all the growing medium available to them. Plugs are at an aggressive stage of growth. As soon as planted the roots will immediately expand into your native soil. They establish faster than plants in larger containers, because they don’t have the luxury of a lot of growing media that can inhibit the roots from venturing outside of their comfort zone.
We are not going to address area preparation because the process can be complex and is always site-specific. However, as a rule, we recommend disturbing the soil as little as possible, and we do not recommend amending the soil. If you chose the right plant for the right conditions they will thrive. Any disturbance and amendments will only encourage weeds to emerge that never had a chance to do so before.
Installing plugs cannot be easier: dig a hole large enough for the roots to fit snugly inside, then water them in to eliminate air gaps. We recommend using a soil knife, sometimes referred to as hori hori, or a drill-adapted auger if it’s a large installation. If you use an auger, you will need a powerful drill. Depending on the size of the project and the type of soil, the process can be beyond what an average drill will bear. Mulching is recommended after installation to help keep weeds down while the plants establish. Be sure to keep it away from the crown of the plants. For large projects, you may want to mulch the area before planting, rather than tiptoeing through it after the fact. As a side note: if you are installing plugs in the fall, you might want to plant them so that the crown is about ¾” lower than the surrounding soil. The winter’s freeze/thaw cycles can push plugs out if the roots did not have enough time to establish and anchor them in.