The Baptisias I started two years ago are finally blooming. Blues are (almost) always welcome, and the plants are tough and attractively bushy, but they’re no substitutes for Russell Lupines.
The eastern Lupinus perennis is also an unsatisfactory substitute for the flashy hybrids, but it is a good plant in it own right. It took two years from seed to finally bloom. It’s apt to disappear in hot summer weather; of the several seedlings I planted, only the one on the shady north side of the house survived.
A Kansas native, Penstemon cobaea has the largest flowers of any Penstemon in the USA.
This clematis was sold at WalMart as the variety “Ville de Lyon,” which is a vivid red. I don’t think so.
