Baptisia Solar Flare Prairieblues

Blooms Turn Orange as They MatureA fully blooming plant is a sea of yellow and orange tones. Jim Ault has done it again. The latest in the Prairieblues, series of heavy-blooming, beautifully colored Baptisias, Solar Flare is a striking cultivar with lemon-yellow flowers that mature through all shades of orange! Irresistible even as a specimen, in a large planting it is nothing short of breathtaking. And like all Baptisias, it has native vigor, a very long life, and a terrific tolerance for everything from drought to pests.You simply can’t go wrong with this large, bushy perennial.

The flowers open in late spring and continue into summer, marking the transition of the seasons beautifully. They appear on tall, sturdy 18- to 24-inch racemes, and have a plump, pea-like shape. They will open (and change colors) from the bottom up, creating a lovely effect as the bloom season progresses. Very floriferous, this Baptisia gives you enough blooms for garden and vase.This perennial offers handsome foliage in addition to its blooms. The leaves are blue-green and very profuse on well-branched plants that look more like shrubs than perennials. They die back to the ground in winter, then reappear in spring first as bare stems shooting straight up from the ground, only gradually acquiring foliage.

Baptisia is a plant that may be a bit slow to establish, growing a long taproot that makes it resistant to being moved (but also very capable of handling drought). It is exceptionally long-lived, giving you far more of a show than most other perennials. Expect it to reach about 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide, a good size for hedge, specimen, border, or even foundation.Combine Solar Flare with other Prairieblues, and with species Baptisia. Native to the southeastern United States, it is also content with other native perennials such as Echinacea, which shares its preference for full sun and good soil drainage. Also resistant to heat, cold, pests, and diseases.