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Indigo Bush (Amorpha fruticosa)

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Only 3 available

Botanical name: Amorpha fruticosa‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Late spring to early summer‍ ‍ • Bloom color: Deep purple spikes with orange anthers‍ ‍ • Host plant (elsewhere in North America): hoary edge, io moth, three-staff underwing, Catocala consors?, black-spotted prominent, silver-spotted skipper, southern dogface

An upright, open shrub hung with narrow spikes of deep violet flowers, each one lit by bright orange anthers, so the whole spike looks like it has been dusted with embers. Fine-textured leaves give it a light, airy presence despite the size. As a legume, it fixes its own nitrogen and feeds three different caterpillars, while heavy bee traffic supports pollination.

Botanical name: Amorpha fruticosa‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Late spring to early summer‍ ‍ • Bloom color: Deep purple spikes with orange anthers‍ ‍ • Host plant (elsewhere in North America): hoary edge, io moth, three-staff underwing, Catocala consors?, black-spotted prominent, silver-spotted skipper, southern dogface

An upright, open shrub hung with narrow spikes of deep violet flowers, each one lit by bright orange anthers, so the whole spike looks like it has been dusted with embers. Fine-textured leaves give it a light, airy presence despite the size. As a legume, it fixes its own nitrogen and feeds three different caterpillars, while heavy bee traffic supports pollination.

Size:

Plant Characteristics

Botanical Name: Amorpha fruticosa

Common Name: Indigo Bush

Native: Native

Sun: Full Sun to Part Sun

Water: Moderate

Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer

Bloom Color: Deep purple spikes with orange anthers

Pollinators: Bees; Butterflies

Mature Size: W 5'-10' x H 6'-12'

Soil: Adaptable; tolerates seasonal wet feet and poor soil

Plant Type: Deciduous shrub

USDA Zones: 4 to 9

Spread Habit: Suckers; thicket-forming

Available As: Live plant

Native Region: Eastern & Central N.A.; Western Great Plains (riparian; widely naturalized)

Host Plant (Elsewhere in North America): hoary edge, io moth, three-staff underwing, Catocala consors?, black-spotted prominent, silver-spotted skipper, southern dogface

Growing Notes

Full sun to part sun. It is one of the few plants in this catalog that tolerates seasonally wet feet, so it will take a low spot, a swale, or a ditch edge that would kill the sagebrush and the penstemons. It is also perfectly happy in poor soil. Give it room; it wants six feet or more of width at maturity.

•   Water: Moderate

•   Sun: Full Sun to Part Sun

•   Soil: Adaptable; tolerates seasonal wet feet and poor soil

•   Mature size: W 5'-10' x H 6'-12'

Maintenance

It suckers and can form a thicket, so decide early whether you want that and remove suckers annually if you do not. Prune in late winter to shape it or to keep it lower, since it flowers on new wood. It can be cut back hard and will recover. Leave the seed pods; they persist through winter and hold visual interest.