This drought tolerant legume is covered in the fall with lovely tall stems of red flowers which are magnets for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. Being in the legume family, it also improves the nitrogen content of your soil while it grows! Erect-prostrate climbing annual reaches 36", producing heavy foliage on fine stems that become rather coarse in later stages of development. Grows well on poor, sandy land. Farmers and ranchers found the plant useful; green cropping (cultivated for plowing under) with the legume improved soil for crops like melons and strawberries and cattle gained more weight when it was part of their forage. Free-seeding and regenerating readily each year, hairy indigo's tolerance of low soil pH and fertility coupled with its resistance to root knot nematode make it an attractive legume for poor sandy soils. I personally use this plant for two purposes: to provide high protien forage for my sheep and to improve soil in old garden areas. It also has nice red flowers that are quite attractive to butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.