August-September 2024 • Nebraskaland 29
Henrickson places the containers
in a warm greenhouse, and the wild
indigo seedlings are ready for sale
and transplanting in May. The fi rst-
year seedlings are rather scraggly
with few leaves, which turns off
some customers, but these plants
will survive transplanting. Second-
year seedlings are more robust,
and the plants often bloom in their
third year.
"People need to be patient with wild
indigos; the payoff takes time," said
Henrickson.
He recommends transplanting the
seedlings into well-drained soil in full
sun. Wild indigos can survive in partial
shade, but their foliage and blooms
will be less vigorous. Once established,
the mature, deep-rooted plants will
not survive transplanting.
A Top 10 Native Ornamental
Based on their showiness, hardiness
and ease of care, Henrickson ranks
wild indigos among his top 10 favorite
wildfl owers for use as ornamentals. In
addition to their beauty, he admires
their pest resistance, hardiness and
drought tolerance. He has planted wild
indigos in gardens as far west as Scotts
Bluff County, where they do well with
watering. In eastern Nebraska, mature
plants require little to no watering.
He also appreciates that the plants
are long-lived. Case in point, a friend of
mine still enjoys the plains wild indigo
he planted in his Lincoln fl ower garden
over 20 years ago. In my backyard
prairie, the white wild indigos I seeded
nearly 25 years ago are still thriving.
Lastly, another important reason
for using wild indigos as ornamentals
is that they are native plants.
Unfortunately, many non-native
ornamentals introduced from Europe,
Asia and other distant lands, such as
yellow fl ag iris, Amur honeysuckle and
ox-eye daisy, have escaped cultivation
and invaded wetlands, woodlands
and prairies, displacing native plants.
Wild indigos pose no such threat to
Nebraska's landscapes.
In conclusion, if you're looking to
enhance your landscaping, I strongly
encourage you to go native and plant
wild indigos. Ornamentals don't get
much better than this.
N
White wild indigo seed pods adorn a backyard prairie in Aurora. The pods remain
attached to the fl ower spikes through the fall.
A greenhouse-grown, four-month-old
plains wild indigo seedling is ready for
transplanting.
