Dalea candida is a perennial plant that produces a distinctive, cylindrical, white, flowering spike atop an occasionally branched central stem. The flowers begin to open at the bottom of the spike and progress upward during the blooming period which lasts about one month in early to mid-summer. The plant is short in stature, averaging a height of 2' when in bloom. The leaves are compound, elongated (oblanceolate) and pale green. They are reminiscent of those of the Pea family, of which this species is a member.
White prairie clover can be slow to establish. However, it is long-lived and will put down an impressively deep taproot (up to 5') making it remarkably drought resistant. It is not particular about soil and will adapt to clay, loam, sandy and rock y soils alike. Although it will tolerate some shade if created by other prairie plants, it is best to position this species in full sun. Its native range is extensive, from Canada to Mexico in the central US. There are some introduced populations further east, including in New England. It is both heat and cold tolerant. Dalea candida is overall easy to grow and disease-free. It is an important species to consider in prairie restorations. In residential contexts, it is ideal for rock gardens, the front of sunny borders and hell strips, and dry native plant gardens.
So as not to hide its flowering spike, Dalea candida is best combined with other low-growing prairie species, such as Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed), Callirhoe involucrata (purple poppymallow), Geum triflorum (prairie smoke), Oenothera speciosa (pinkladies), and Ruellia humilis (wild petunia).
Companion prairie grasses include Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama), Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama), Eragrostis spectabilis (purple lovegrass), and Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem).
Similarly to other legumes, white prairie clover is exceptional in its ability to fix nitrogen. It is attractive to a number of pollinators, including bumblebees, plasterer bees, Halictid bees, Sphecid and Tiphiid wasps, and many species of small butterflies.
The plants are also attractive to mammalian herbivores, including deer and rabbits, which can hinder the plants' establishment. Interplanting Dalea candida with deer resistant species such as Ruellia humilis will help protect them from over browsing.
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Recorded County Distribution: USDA data.
AL, AR, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MN, MO, MS, ND, NE, NH, OK, SC, SD, TN, WI, WV, AZ, CO, LA, MT, NM, TX, UT, WY |
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 | Dalea | prairie clover |
Species | Dalea candida | white prairie clover |
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.