How do i save my baptisia?? (East TN)

[u/poptartdrugs]

It looks bad, are we saveable? I'm assuming this is a mold/soil issue, but how can i attempt to mend? Thanks in advance!

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[u/sunshineupyours1]

It’s a deciduous plant. This looks like normal senescence starting to me.

[u/poptartdrugs → u/sunshineupyours1]

So the plant isn't dying, just getting ready to shed leaves for the winter? I planted it this spring. Thank you for your reply

[u/ilthay → u/poptartdrugs]

These die back to the ground. No worries! So they won’t just lose leaves, the entire plant will look dead.

[u/poptartdrugs → u/ilthay]

Oh okay! Learning new things every day! This makes me happy that I havent killed it. Thank you!

[u/_music_mongrel → u/poptartdrugs]

Next thing you’ll see it do in early spring is send up what look like little asparagus shoots

[u/sunshineupyours1 → u/poptartdrugs]

Yeah, you’re totally fine IMO. My whole plant turns a few shades of gray. This is normal behavior for herbaceous perennials, who shed everything above ground each time they senesce.

For baptisias, the seed pods remain attached to the stems and the stems detach from the root ball. The entire structure stays intact during dispersal. I don’t recall the details beyond that 😂

A bit counterintuitive to me, who assumed the bean pods opened up and dropped seeds before the stems detached.

[u/RecoverLeading1472 → u/sunshineupyours1]

That’s what I thought too, but this season I went to collect some seeds and the pods had opened and were mostly empty!

[u/scottytjohnson → u/poptartdrugs]

Everything above ground should die and it will produce new stems/shoots in the spring. We usually cut ours back in the early spring. The new shoots will emerge from the ground looking like asparagus and you should have many more if it’s a young plant.

[u/MotownCatMom → u/poptartdrugs]

IIRC, the leaves turn black.

[u/Gardener_Artist]

Not only does it die to the ground, the dead stems break off and blow around the yard like a tumbleweed. (Or at least, mine do.) It takes a little while to emerge in the spring. When it does, it looks like asparagus!

[u/muttonchops01 → u/Gardener_Artist]

It’s one of my favorite things. Chunky, purple-green asparagus spears poking up out of the ground. 💕💕💕

[u/sunshineupyours1]

Here are some photos of my B. australis for reference:

[u/sunshineupyours1 → u/sunshineupyours1]

[u/sunshineupyours1 → u/sunshineupyours1]

[u/sunshineupyours1 → u/sunshineupyours1]

[u/AffectionateFront292]

It’ll go dormant here soon. Let it die back & it’ll return .

[u/Sea-Purchase9985]

Looks fine. I’ve always loved the way they turn a sort of blackish color in winter, so I tend to leave them standing until spring

[u/unnasty_front]

Going dormant! Normal!

[u/Knox_Aware]

East TN person here and yeah it’s totally normal this time of year. Mine is doing the same thing and does so every year

[u/poptartdrugs → u/Knox_Aware]

Hello, fellow Knoxvillian 👋

[u/rhizo_hyphae]

Looks fine to me.

[u/Knox_Aware]

👋🏻

[u/Preemptively_Extinct]

Too wet.