WILD WHITE INDIGO
Showy white flowers of white wild indigo last for weeks.
By LYNN ARTZ and DAVID RODDENBERRY
White wild indigo (Baptisia alba) is striking in spring. Tall flower stalks resembling asparagus shoots quickly reach 2-3 feet, and then bear showy white flowers that last for weeks. Bumblebees visit and pollinate the pea-shaped flowers despite no floral scent. The leaves feed the caterpillars of wild indigo duskywing and Zarucco duskywing butterflies. White wild indigo is a long-lived perennial best suited to the back of a wildflower garden due to its height. When its leaves die, puffy black seedpods cling to the bare winter stems. White wild indigo thrives in full to part sun in dry to moist soils. In the bean family, its roots have nitrogen-fixing nodules that improve poor soils. White wild indigo is blooming now in the northeast gardens at Sopchoppy Depot Park.