Dalea purpurea

Description

Purple prairie clover is a beautiful and useful plant that can grow in a wide range of soils, tolerates drought very well plus being a nitrogen-fixing plant it enhances the soil. It is said that the strong taproot can be as much as 2 m deep!

With compound leaves with linear leaflets and attractive purple flowers in cone-like heads that  open gradually, it is an excellent addition for the natural looking gardens, flower beds and for naturalizations projects. I cannot wait to also grow it for myself this coming season!
More than this, Purple prairie clover was considered an important  legume on the Great Plains and provided both food and medicine for the Indigenous Peoples.
Images: Dalea purpurea

Germination: said to germinate at room temp. without additional treatments: sown in under lights indoors in very early spring – the germination was very slow and in low percentage.
Best to try: sowing in very early spring outdoors or after scarification in late spring (*Dalea purpurea seeds have only physiological dormancy and like many other Fabaceae the seeds require scarification (which could be replaced by the HWT); afterwards they should germinate at warm).

Because of the taproot, the seedlings should be planted at their definite location.