My dad has it in a shady area, and he gets Duskywing Skipper caterpillars on it every year. His is about 2 ft tall I believe.

I have Baptisia australis var. minor, the smaller one that gets about 2' tall in mostly sun in a container no less. It does well all summer. Beware that the Genista moth caterpillars love the stuff, too and will completely defoliate it. Altho the foliage will grow back, it is very slow. The blooms are just stunning on this plant in early spring and I had Wild Indigo Duskywings the first year I grew it.

Susan

I've killed this twice, but my 3rd try seems to be working. It's in a wet location and some shade.
Below is the Missouri Botanical Garden information.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mobot

That's odd because they generally like to be kept on the dry side. But, hey, whatever works I'd definitely go with.

I have yet to see the "attractive seed pods" they speak of, because either they aren't being pollinated (I had Silver Spotted Skippers all over mine this year, tho) or something is eating them.

Good luck to both of you with this gorgeous native.

Susan

Now I know Amorpha fruticosa as false indigo, and Baptisia as Baptisia. Amorpha fruticosa is host to Southern dogface, Silver-spotted Skipper, Gray hairstreak, and Hoary edge skipper.

I had Baptisia australis in SE TN in sun. It did really well. We had that clay stuff they call soil down there ;->

James,

I have 2 in full hot sun, 1 in shade and 1 in morning shade with hot afternoon sun. They all do great. I watered them well the first year they were planted and then they were on their own.

The full hot sun ones get huge 3 1/2 feet tall and at least 3 feet wide. Beautiful. The shade and part shade ones are only 2 years old, so I can't tell you for sure if they are going to be huge, yet.

Here in Cen Va, clay, zone 7 they die back to the ground each winter and come back wonderfully in the spring.

I LOVE them!

Plant them where you want them to stay and they have room to grow, because the root system on my oldest one is MASSIVE! It was so big I decided I would divide it and have more plants. I set the shovel where I wanted it and jumped on it and it just bounced off of those roots!

Betty

I have two (well, now three) in partial shade. Susan is right, the Genista caterpillars COMPLETELY defoliated mine last year. This year they didn't bloom and are looking sorta fragile. I hope they regain their vigor this year.

My Baptisias bloomed this year, and I have lots of seed pods. I'll take photos of them when they get close to maturing. Can't say they are that beautiful right now.

Pods are no longer rattling that much so I guess some of the seeds are gone. Size may not be obvious, but mine is around three feet tall, basically gets full son and zero care (e.g. water or fertilizer) - has been there for about 5 years.

That's what mine look like right now. I love the beautiful dark seed pods that the plants get. I have about a dozen plants and so far have found Wild Indigo Duskwing eggs and Clouded Sulphur eggs on them. I think that the Eastern Tailed Blue and Orange sulphur also use them for host plants and maybe more that I don't know of offhand. I love when plants host more than one type of caterpillar.
Cathy