Lespedeza bicolor Seeds | Unique Hardy Shrub
LATIN NAME: Lespedeza bicolor
COMMON NAME: Shrubby Lespedeza, Bicolor Lespedeza, Japanese Bush Clover
Plant Profile
Shrubby lespedeza is a deciduous shrub, 1.5-3 m tall, with trifoliate leaves and arching stems that carry loose sprays of rose-purple pea flowers from August into September. The plant has a loose, graceful habit that suits a wild garden, and the flowers are followed by small pods.
It is one of the few late-flowering shrubs that will grow in poor dry soil, and it is used for erosion control, for wildlife cover and as an ornamental. In North America it is planted for quail and other ground-nesting birds, which use its dense low growth for cover.
Lespedeza bicolor comes from Japan, Korea and China, where it grows at woodland edges and on disturbed ground. It spreads by seed and, in some conditions, by suckering, and it is regarded as invasive in parts of the eastern United States.
Science & Biotechnology
The plant is a legume and fixes nitrogen, which is why it can colonise poor soil and improve it. That property, combined with its rapid growth and its dense root system, is why it is used in land reclamation and in erosion control on road margins.
Lespedeza contains tannins and flavonoids, and extracts have been studied for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in the laboratory. In traditional Chinese practice the whole plant is used, and the stems are one of the herbs in formulas for kidney and urinary complaints.
The genus is named after Vicente Manuel de Céspedes, a Spanish governor of East Florida, and it contains around forty species, mostly Asian and North American. Lespedeza bicolor is the most widely planted ornamental, and its habit of self-seeding is the reason it appears on invasive species lists.
Uses & Benefits
Shrubby lespedeza is grown as an ornamental for its late flowers, as a wildlife cover plant and for erosion control on banks and road margins. It is also used as forage for goats and deer, which browse the young growth.
In the garden it works in a wild border, a meadow edge or a wildlife strip, where its late flowers feed bees after most shrubs have finished. Commercially the seed is sold for conservation plantings and for game cover. It is not a plant for a small, tightly controlled garden, given its tendency to spread.
Growing from Seed
Soak the seed for 24 hours in warm water, then sow at 1 cm deep at 20-25°C. Germination is fast, seven to fourteen days, and the seed coat benefits from a light scarification.
Plant out in full sun or light shade in any well-drained soil, including poor and dry ground. Water only until established. Cut back hard in late winter to keep the shrub compact and to encourage the arching flowering stems. Remove seed heads before they shatter if self-sowing would be a problem. Because the seed coat is hard, germination is erratic without scarification, and a second flush often appears three weeks after the first.
Our Take
A tough late-flowering shrub for poor ground, best used where its spreading habit is an asset rather than a nuisance.
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