Amorpha fruticosa (False Indigo Bush)
Also known as Indigo Bush, False Indigo, Desert False Indigo.
False Indigo Bush is an attractive, airy, fast-growing shrub featuring fragrant purple blooms. It has extensive root system, is wind tolerant and often forms dense thickets. It can be planted as a windbreak, screen and to prevent soil erosion. It is also a nitrogen fixer.
False Indigo Bush is commonly found on wet ground along rivers, streams, ponds, and ditches and occasionally in open wet woods. While it thrives in average, medium to wet, well-draining soils, it is also adaptable to infertile, dry soils and tolerates periods of dry and wet soil. It appreciates part sun or part shade in dry soils. False Indigo Bush is tolerant of occasional flooding and dry spells. It can be pruned in early spring to improve its form.
False Indigo Bush works well as a screen, windbreak, in naturalized areas, rain gardens, wildlife habitats, near water, in mass plantings as well as stand-alone shrub.
AT A GLANCE
Texas native | Yes |
Water use | Medium, high |
Sun exposure | Full sun to part shade |
Bloom color | Purple |
Bloom time | Spring |
Mature height | 6-12 ft |
Mature spread | 6-12 ft |
Attracts | Bees, butterflies |
Host plant |
Silver Spotted Skipper, Southern Dogface, California Dogface, Gray Hairstreak, Hoary Edge. |
Deer resistant | Yes |
Notes | Native bee friendly. Nitrogen fixer. |
DISTRIBUTION MAPS
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