Kirilow's indigo is a low, spreading shrub from Korea, northern China, and Japan that U.S. gardeners grow for its spikes of rosy-pink, pea-like flowers in early summer. It isn't native to the U.S.; it's an ornamental for USDA Zones 5–7, where it often dies back to the ground in winter and regrows in spring.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A deciduous shrub that spreads by suckers into a dense clump. In U.S. gardens it usually stays about 2–3 ft (60–90 cm) tall; wild plants in Korea are about 3 ft (1 m).
- Leaves
- Feathery, pinnately compound leaves 4–6 in (10–15 cm) long with 7–11 roundish leaflets, softly hairy on both sides. They turn yellow-orange in fall.
- Flowers
- Pink pea flowers about 1/2–3/4 in (1.2–2 cm) long, crowded on upright 4–5 in (10–13 cm) spikes.
- Flowering time
- Early summer in U.S. gardens (June–July in North Carolina), sometimes reblooming lightly into September.
- Fruit
- Slim pods about 1.5–2 in (4–5 cm) long.
Look-alikes
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Forest edges
- Open woodland
- Scrubby slopes
- Range
- Native to Korea, northern China, and southern Japan. In the U.S. it's grown in gardens, not found wild.
- Preferred conditions
- Full sun and well-drained soil; tolerant of heat, drought, and clay, loam, or sand.
- Flowering
Flowers Jun–Jul
Flowers Jun–Jul
Growing it
- Care
- It blooms on new wood, so cutting the stems near the ground in late winter gives more flowers. Bees and butterflies visit the blooms.
Name and classification
- Varieties and forms
- A white-flowered garden selection, 'Angyo Snow', is sold alongside the usual pink plants.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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