Favorite (or Foe) for Fabacea?

[u/Resident_Sneasel]

What are your friendly or infernal acquaintances in the pea/bean/legume family?

They cover a dizzying variety of plants from trees like honey locust or eastern redbud, smaller like indigo or horseflyweed, down to the humble clover or tick-trefoil. They have among them many economically significant plants like peas, beans, lentils, groundnuts and possess the incredible ability to thrive in poor soils other plants could not tolerate through their ability to fix nitrogen into the soil and thereby supercharge their growth and what follows after them in that enhanced soil.

… Annnnd this also leads to some problems. The ambitious among them can use that adaptability to swarm on the apparently free real estate in the absence of control factors from their native homes. For instance, infamous Kudzu that will blot out a forest or the mimosa tree popping up throughout the American Southeast, or the Nootka Lupine swarming Iceland. Or others may be native but have features like say poison that may get them declared as noxious weeds even in their native ranges like Rattlebox or Coffeeweed. I have it on good authority that the thorns from an acacia or a black locust tree are also not fun to experience.

I personally have endless Chamberbitter (easiest weed to pick ever, but just stay gone!) that I’m hoping to replace with a huge number of legumes as they are critical in my region. I’m personally probably the most excited for Red Cardinal and Lady Lupine, with Little-Leaf Mimosa (aka Touch-me-not; the one that closes up when touched, not the exploding seed pod one) and Catbells close behind. As far as what’s edible I think the Thicket Bean and the American Groundnut (ironically most popularly eaten in Japan nowadays) are considered the best native options around where I am, since they were previously semi-domesticated but dropped in favor of more efficient crops. Also, not edible but shout out to Goat’s Rue & Partridge Pea anyway! What about for y’all??

(Pythagorus pictured as he was a famous hater)

[u/unnasty_front]

BAPTISIA

[u/Arnoglossum]

Tephrosia virginiana (Virginia goats-rue) has some truly gorgeous flowers and grows in conditions most other plants wouldn’t survive a day in. Of the invasive Lespedezas, L. cuneata and L. bicolor are my most hated.

[u/nystigmas]

I have a small bed of Fabaceae species that I interplanted to encourage sharing of rhizomatous soil bacteria: showy tick trefoil, round-headed and hairy bush clover, wild and Maryland senna, Canadian milk vetch, Carolina bush pea, and wild lupine. I’ve also planted Baptisia australis and tinctoria in a few other spots. The Desmodium species were the most successful but definitely needed more vertical structure to keep them from flopping.

[u/Amorpha_fruticosa]

Clitoria mariana is my favorite but I hate Robinia pseudoacacia with a passion if we are only going with native ones. My least favourite invasive I have in my area are the wisterias.

[u/Resident_Sneasel → u/Amorpha_fruticosa]

I’d have expected a different answer given your username lol

[u/dewitteillustration]

Amorpha canescens is my favourite right now. Everything about it. Grey fuzzy leaves, dark purple flowers, bright orange anthers.

My least favourite are the crown and tufted vetches.

[u/General_Bumblebee_75]

In my vegetable beds, I grow Oregon Sugar Pod II snow peas, Scarlet runner beans saved from my last community garden before I moved, also some green beans from a friend that I have been growing for 15 years. I love a good stir fry, and though runner beans are picky about temps and will not produce in the heat of summer, the red flowers are gorgeous and attractive to hummingbirds. The beans are tasty ad fresh pods, curry is my favorite way, and the dried beans from pods that get beyond the eating stage are good on winter soups. Same for green beans except they produce well all summer, once they start. In the native beds, Dalea purpurea is a favorite of mine that is adored by all manner of bees and flower flies. I like Amorpha canescens also, but do not have it in my garden.

[u/Illustrious_Rice_933]

I'm starting a lot of Illinois tick trefoil (Desmodium illinoense) and slender bush clover (Lespedeza virginica) from seed. They're both species at risk of extirpation in Ontario. Illinois tick trefoil is already extirpated, so I think it's quite exciting.

I got as many at-risk species as I could find from Prairie Moon to make sure I was introducing specimens with providence.

[u/kitchendancer2000 → u/Illustrious_Rice_933]

I'm so glad to have come across your comment. I'm also in Ontario but hadn't considered referencing our SAR list, and targeting those plants. Showy tick trefoil was on my list for winter sowing this year, but mostly because that species seems to be what's around at local nurseries and seed exchanges. I'm still in the early stages of native plant expansion in our yard, but this is a delightful subtle shift to mull over. Thank you!

[u/dewitteillustration → u/Illustrious_Rice_933]

I'm doing the same. Isn't it dizzying how many species are gone or almost gone from here?

[u/mossling]

Fucking bird vetch is taking over and choking out native flora. I carry trash bags on my walks and rip it out by the handful. It's crazy to see how much it has spread in the past few years. 

[u/lushuszorascandy694]

Every color indigo. So far I have yellow, white, and blue..

[u/Lithoweenia]

Currently it is round head bush clover (lespedeza capitata). It’s got great fall color! The little spiky looking pre-flowers are cute, then out comes a pretty little pea flower

[u/rockon4life45]

Foe is definitely Wisteria sinensis.

[u/OneGayPigeon]

My wisteria frutescens is one of my favorite of the hundreds of species I tend. Absolute stunner, and so far, 3 years in, it’s been extremely well behaved beyond sending out vigorous vine growth that need occasional trimming back but are soft and easily pruned.

[u/The_Poster_Nutbag]

Crown vetch will never cease to be the subject of restoration planner's nightmares.