When 'Little Volcano' lespedeza caught my eye at a garden-club plant sale, the 3-foot mound had erupted into cascading stems smothered in rosy-purple blooms. I couldn't resist taking the shrubby perennial home.

Four years later, it's an enormous graceful wonder, 8-plus feet tall and nearly as wide that burst into bloom in mid October. Clearly, it's outgrown its name.

Beauty is reason enough to go on about this late bloomer. But it gets extra kudos for raising the bar on drought tolerance. 'Little Volcano' truly likes dry feet.

Lespedeza, commonly called bush clover, is a member of the legume family. One or two in this genus are nasty invasives, but several, including 'Little Volcano,' produce nonseeding, pealike blooms.

A pest-free, upright plant with arching branches, the fine-textured blue-green leaves turn golden-yellow in late fall before dropping for winter. Cut it back in late winter, especially if there has been a hard freeze. It will regrow in even larger fountainlike form.

Give lespedeza sun, a well-draining soil and plenty of room to show off. Once established, it needs little if any help from the garden hose.

Check availability at native plant nurseries and www.plantdelights.com.