Blue Annual Flowers
Plant Annuals With Blue Flowers to Complete Your Blue Color Scheme in the Garden
Flower gardeners are always looking for more blue flowers. Grow these blue flowered annuals in your garden either in a blue themed planting or mixed with other colors.
Bedding Plant Annuals with Blue Flowers
Common bedding plant annuals with blue flowers include ageratum, verbena, the occasional petunia and Salvia farinacea varieties such as "Victoria Blue." Nierembergia is available in a good blue. The deceptively delicate looking lobelias offer some of the best sparkling blues among annuals.
Old Fashioned or Heirloom Annuals with Blue Flowers
Old fashioned annuals include some superb blues. Centaurea cyanus (Batchelor Buttons) has lovely true blue flowers and is also the namesake for the expression cornflower blue. If you enjoy self seeding annuals, you must try the annual delphinium (larkspurs) and Nigella (love-in-a-mist.) Both of these are often sold as a mixture with the colors including blue, white and pink. Nigella "Miss Jekyll" is a blue strain.
Mixing Annual and Perennial Flowers Together
If you are planning to mix annuals and perennials together in your blue flower garden, you may want to plant the lower growing annuals toward the front of your bed to provide an ongoing steady display of blue flowers. Arrange them as a low border or group them in drifts or masses for a stronger visual impact.
Mid height annuals can be grouped or clustered toward the ends of the bed or midway to the back. Use the annuals to create a framework to stage your blue flowered perennials so they can be appreciated as they come into bloom.
And if you use larkspur or Nigella, be aware that the bloom season usually ends by midsummer and the plants die back so there will be a gap you need to plan for. Hide the gap with taller perennials in front, or plan on covering the bare spot with a container or two.
All Flower Gardens Articles So Far
Copyright September 10, 2006 Barbara Martin All Rights Reserved
