Treefolia Shrub Bushclover Seeds

'Treefolia' Selected northern seed strain that ripens seeds in a short season. Plants show high vigor and excellent seed production which ripen fully in northern locations into zone 5. The plant produces a large cane over an inch in diameter over the course of a decade. Plant height can go up to 10 ft. tall with wide cascasding branches filled with pink pea like flowers in long clusters. It is the seed production that attracts many types of song birds including bobwhite and pheasant. Lespedeza is a nitrogen fixing plant and is used in the south as hay and historically used as a type of mine reclamation plant. This seed strain Treefolia was selected for the north allowing for the seeds to mature fully in the seed pods along with a hardiness rating into the minus 20F range.  

'Treefolia'  along with a few other seedlings were grown from the species Lespedeza bicolor grown from seed from different trees. This particular species grew well at my farm. The foliage was browsed by the white tailed deer at my farm for many years. The seedlings originally were part of a larger group of a thousand seedlings. Treefolia flowered in one year from seed and retained its woody nature without dying to the ground like most of the species does. Some of the selections I noticed in the batch of plants were more woody in growth with very hard stems growing to 10 ft. tall along with no winter damage on the stems. 

'Treefolia' has not spread much in the landscape as the seeds are consumed by song birds and white footed mice. This selection would be a good food for pheasant and bobwhite. It produces a hay which is high in nutrition. The nitrogen fixing plant was used more in the south. There is no commercially produced hay of Lespedeza in Michigan and the only plants used are patented varieties in landscapes which are often nearly empty of seeds or they never ripen fully and just drop to the ground as a unfilled seed coat. The genus is not well known in Michigan and this species in particular is not found at all. "Treefolia" is a start of a perennial form of hay and a means to feed song birds in the fall when high protein and calorie laden seeds provide a great resource. 

Germination: Lightly cover the seeds in the spring. 1/4 inch deep. Treat like you would clover watering regularly so the plant can establish quickly. Sprouting occurs in 1-3 weeks. Some small percentage of seed have hard coats are found within the seed. These can germinate over a period of weeks and once in a while sprout the following year

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