Plant of the Week: Cream Baptisia

Cream baptisia (Baptisia bracteata) is plant of the week! This beautiful native perennial is part of the pea family… does that makes it a pea-rennial? It gets its name ‘baptisia’ from the plants historic use as a dye agent. Don’t confuse this perennial with its close cousin, white baptisia. Cream baptisia’s flowers cascade down towards the ground while others in the family have a more upright flower stalk.  

Cream baptisia is a nitrogen fixing plant meaning it adds nutrients to the soil. This makes its presence beneficial for neighboring plants! It also benefits pollinating guests such as queen bumblebees in the early spring, long-tongued bees, and butterflies such as the wild indigo duskywing. 

It can thrive in a variety of soil types including drought-prone areas and in sandy soils. The foliage is high in alkaloids which keeps it safe in garden settings from deer and other mammalian herbivores. This beautiful plant flowers before most plants in May- June. If its low maintenance needs enticed you, add this resilient native to your garden and enjoy its early flowers for years to come. 

This photo was taken from the planters outside the MMB. Much to our delight, we are also seeing this species pop up from seed in recently developed stormwater ponds of Madison.  

Written by the Engineering Conservation Crew: Hailey Collins, Don Brown, Wesley Tateh, and Brandon Canaie