Anyway, I saved some of the seed pods and planted them. A dozen have germinated. I know the praireblue is a hybrid. I'll be curious to see what color flowers, if any, I get from these new little ones. I have to admit, the flowers don't show up all that much. The plant is at the end of the yard, about 90' away from the porch. I'm actually hoping I'll get some light colored flowers from one of these seeds - it would show a lot better. How long before a plant from seed flowers?

I really like the shape of this plant - more like a shrub than a flower. And best of all, with the heavy deer pressure we have, the deer leave these alone.

Winter sowing taught me to be patient and be grateful for things that bloom when they're meant to rather than when I'd prefer them to do so.

As you say, they're lovely, large perennials that require zero care/maintenance and are not bothered by deer--what's not to love? I have nearly a half dozen mature nursery-grown plants growing in full sun in my butterfly beds. I consider them elegant and maintenance-free perennials. They're a much-appreciated addition to the early season garden.

Gardenmom, if your seeds just germinated, then your seedlings will be pretty small to go through the winter. I've got a couple Twilight Prairie Blues plants and this year there is one self-sown seedling out in the garden. I also collected seed this year to sow next winter. I'm curious what color the seedlings will be.

Starting Baptisia from seed is an exercise is patience. They take years to bloom. I started some Baptisia leucantha in 2008 and am still waiting on blooms. They are getting pretty good sized, so they'll probably bloom next Spring. They spent the first couple years in pots, so they probably would have bloomed by now otherwise.

Btw, deer may not like the foliage, but voles love Baptisia roots!