False Indigo Bush

Description

Botanical Name:  Amorpha fruticosa

Common Name:  Indigo Bush, False Indigo Bush, False Indigo, Desert False Indigo

Description:  This is a really pretty, native, deciduous shrub. It has lacy, dark-green leaves, and showy spikes of 3-6″ long purple flowers bloom in the spring. It can grow to 10′ tall x 5′ wide. Although it is naturally a dense and many-branched shrub, it can be pruned into a tree form. It grows naturally on moist soils of streambanks and waterways. Is drought tolerant as well as tolerates poor drainage, but needs occasional deep irrigation in dry months. Sun, part sun, or part shade. Host plant to California and southern dogfaces, Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus), Gray hairstreak, Hoary edge skipper, and is of special value to native bees. High deer resistance.

This plant in 1-gallon containers is 1-1/2′ tall and wide.

Fun Fact:  The genus name, from the Greek amorphos (formless or deformed), alludes to the fact that the flower, with only a single petal (the banner or standard), is unlike the typical pea flowers of the family.

Hardiness Zones 4-9