I had several colorful varieties that I got from song sparrow nursery and they grew beautifully for years, but they have started to be MIA in the spring. What am I doing wrong?

I sent an email to Bluestone saying that I would like to order more, but not if I can't figure out why they are dying. Does no one else grow Baptisia, aka False Indigo?

I have Baptista, going on 20+ years, partial shade and clay soil, so far no problems.

I still have the original one that I grew from seed many years ago.

I had a baptisia for over twenty years then one spring it did not appear. I replaced it with other plants because it was not attractive when done blooming.

I see you are in zone 4 Betty, I am 4B. Do you think it was the winter temp?

I am not sure it was a number of years ago, I am not sure how long the possible life of baptisia may thrive in a garden. I did cut off the seed pods each year as they just didn't appeal to me.

I wonder if voles or field mice are feasting on the roots over winter?
I've read that voles like to eat Baptisia.

I can't find anything about pests of Baptisia.

Just use a search engine, like Google, with the terms "Baptisia" and "Voles" and you'll find information.

Here are a few pages where voles are mentioned:

https://www.finegardening.com/...

https://laidbackgardener.blog/...

Excerpts from books,
https://books.google.com/books...

https://books.google.com/books...

Thank you very much, Danita; I had no idea voles could be a problem. Do they also like lily bulbs? I have lilies planted in the same area. I wonder if surrounding baptisia with daffodils would help.

Yes, they love Lilium, too. They probably wouldn't eat the daffodils but it likely wouldn't deter them from eating anything else nearby.

I actually had pine voles eat a Gloriosa Lily (Gloriosa rothschildiana) tuber despite the fact that they are deadly toxic. Shortly after I found the half-eaten tuber, I found a dead vole and another in the throes of death nearby. I'm guessing that they regretted that snack!

I wonder if there are any other plants that will kill them; heh,heh,heh....

Just found these caterpillars that have totally defoliated one of my 2 remaining baptisias and is starting on the last one!
Some research revealed the caterpillar to be that of the Genista Broom Moth.Must get out to the garden now and try to save what I can! Very bad bug, you can google!

http://tinaramsey.blogspot.com...

I have one that I am not impressed with due to the short bloom time. It is BIG. I would like to dig it out and donate it to the village. The foliage look good till the frost come. Purple Smoke is the one I have. I see seedlings popping y here and there. I read here that they are hard to dig out. I am willing to try next spring. It has been here for at least five years.

I've had one for about 5 years. It hardly blooms and then it's too tall and falls over. I'm going to give it to my neighbor, let him try it for a while. Maybe he'll do better with it than I do.

Karen

Karen, what are the site conditions, I have a group of them that bloom ever year, for the past 20+ years, they can take a few years to bloom after being planted.

Hot sun until around 1 pm, then shade. I'm just tired of it.

Karen

I would also like to dig out my baptista but they have long tap roots. I tried to do it once with another one and it ended up dead. It was very nice when it had a lot of room. Bloom time was very short but the leaves are nice. Who knew it would be the size of a shrub. I think people should grow it for the leaves because that is mostly what you get.
I think the vole theory is a good one.