'Purple Smoke' is a hybrid false indigo in the bean (Fabaceae) family whose parents are B. australis x B. alba. It was found at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in the early 1990s as a chance seeding. This long-lived mounding plant will grow 4 to 5 feet tall and wide, does best in full sun, average well-drained soil and is deer and drought-tolerant once established. False indigoes have long tap roots so choose your site wisely as it will not transplant well. This is a vigorous grower so give it plenty of room to grow. It can be pruned after flowering to maintain a more rounded look. Blooming mid-spring, this plant produces smokey-lavender flowers on long racemes that are straight to arching on dark stems. The gray-green foliage is attractive year-round. It will occasionally produce a long seed pod that adds additional interest into fall if not pruned after flowering. Use this plant as a specimen, in the mid to back of the border or meadows and other naturalized settings. Attracts bees and butterflies. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No significant problems
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.