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Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-047
Siberian Pea Shrub
Caragana arborescens
Siberian Pea Shrub is a true legume that fixes its own nitrogen through root-nodule bacteria, and its seeds - up to 36 percent protein - cook up as a pulse, four to six per pod, though their bland flavor needs a strong spice to carry it. It doubles as a hardy windbreak shrub for open, exposed ground, tolerating cold, wind, salt and poor soil. It self-sows and suckers freely enough that Minnesota restricts its sale and transport as a noxious weed, so any planting needs its pods snapped before they burst and its suckers grubbed out to stay in bounds.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 2–7
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 6–8.5
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 15–20 ft
- Mature spread
- 12–15 ft
- Plant spacing
- 12–20 in
- Root type
- Not yet recorded
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
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