Shrub Lespedeza (Lespedeza bicolor), commonly called bush clover, is a loose, open deciduous shrub that transforms late summer gardens with rose-purple, pea-like flowers held in showy upright spikes. Hardy from zones 4 through 8, this plant grows 5 to 10 feet tall and equally wide, thriving in full sun to partial shade with minimal fuss. It's exceptionally tough, handling drought and poor soils that would challenge many ornamentals, and its late-season blooms arrive just when many gardens need color most.
Partial Sun
Moderate
4-8
120in H x 120in W
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High
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Late-summer flowers in rose-purple arrive on new growth when most shrubs are fading, extending the garden season into August and September. In colder climates, you can treat it as a die-back shrub, cutting it to the ground each late winter and watching it rocket to 5 feet in a single season, making it refreshingly low-maintenance. The combination of dark green trifoliate leaves and flowers that appear both at stem tips and in the upper leaf axils creates an airy, open texture that feels less formal than many ornamental shrubs. It tolerates drought, poor soils, and erosion with ease, asking only for good drainage and full sun to thrive.
Shrub Lespedeza is grown primarily as an ornamental shrub for late-season garden color and landscape texture. Its showy rose-purple flowers make it valuable in mixed borders and naturalized plantings where late blooms are prized. In colder hardiness zones, gardeners often employ it as an herbaceous perennial, cutting it to the ground annually to manage winter dieback while enjoying vigorous regrowth and abundant flowering.
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Prune as needed in late winter to early spring to shape the plant or control its size. Since this shrub blooms on new growth, pruning stimulates flowering rather than reducing it. In colder climates at the edge of its hardiness range, you can cut the entire plant to the ground in late winter; it will rapidly regrow to 5 feet tall during a single growing season. This annual cutback approach is often employed in zone 4 to manage winter dieback while maintaining vigor and abundant late-summer blooms.
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