Pure white flowers grace the top of this charming plant in mid-summer. White Prairie Clover (Dalea candida) is member of the Legume Family, and an important component of short prairies. Plant it along with Purple Prairie Clover for a colorful summer combination …
Pure white flowers grace the top of this charming plant in mid-summer. White Prairie Clover (Dalea candida) is member of the Legume Family, and an important component of short prairies. Plant it along with Purple Prairie Clover for a colorful summer combination.
Legumes such as Prairie Clovers harbor beneficial bacteria called rhizobia. The plants are able to capture nitrogen from the air, and the rhizobia assist in "fixing" the nitrogen in the plant. The plants act as a natural soil fertilizer when the spent plant material is left to enrich the soil.
White Prairie Clover is a host plant for Southern Dogface, California Dogface, and Reakirt's Blue butterflies.
Native plants can be grown outside of their native range in the appropriate growing conditions. This map shows the native range, as well as the introduced range, of this species.
Plant Shipping Rates: for plant orders up to $50 the shipping amount is $9.95. For plant orders from $50.01 and over, the shipping rate is 20% of the total plant cost.
Fall plant-shipping begins on September 9, 2024. The last day to order your plants for fall shipment is September 29.
During checkout, you will be asked to choose a Shipping Week for your plant delivery, from the dates that are available. The week that you choose will be included in your order confirmation email. When your plants ship you will receive an email that includes your tracking information.
Can Prairie Clovers be grown as a lawn replacement?
Purple, or White Prairie Clover aren't the type of clover that you would see used as lawn replacement. These prairie clovers (Dalea sp.) are prairie plants, about 2 or 3 feet high, with tough taproot, bushy vase-like shape, and straight – almost woody – stems. Plants need about two years to fully mature. We don't recommend Purple or White Prairie Clover for lawn replacement. The low-growing clover typically used for lawn replacement is Dutch clover, Trifolium repens (native to northern Europe).
Can Prairie Clovers be used for erosion control on a slope? If so, what is the seeding rate?
The White and Purple Prairie Clovers are easy to germinate, but they are slow-growing during the first year. These prairie species are not related to the typical Clovers that you might see being used to stabilize a slope. Since Prairie Clovers are slower to mature they are not the best for erosion control, and we don't recommend planting this species as a solid stand. For long-term erosion control we recommend a native seed mix, such as our erosion control seed mixes. If these are too tall you may want to create a custom seed mix that includes a variety of flowers and grasses.
How do I add the rhizobium to the seed?
No action needs to be taken on your part. All of our legume seeds have been pre-inoculated with this bacterium. The bacterium works with the plant to form nodules, on the roots of legume plants, which are capable of taking nitrogen from the atmosphere and incorporating it into the plant.
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