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Blue Perennial Flowers

Many Popular Perennials have Blue Flowers Perfect for the All Blue Flower Garden

Sep 18, 2006

Linum perenne Saphyr, Courtesy W. Atlee Burpee & Co.

If you want a blue flowered theme garden or just like blue flowers in your flower garden, be sure to plant some of these blue flowering perennials.

Always Select Your Blue Flowers in Person

There are many popular and hardy perennials with good blue flowers including cultivars of Salvia, Veronica, Platycodon, and Campanula along with Aquilegia, Anchusa, and Delphinium. Linum perenne (blue flax) has a lovely blue flower although in my garden it has not been fully perennial. Viola cornuta varieties such as "Blue Perfection" offer another option for true blue blooms. Examine these yourself to verify that the blue coloring is a blue you like.

Some are a bit purple, some a bit washed out or silvery, some are a lighter blue and some are a deeper blue. With blue flowers, color is all in the eye of the beholder. I would always suggest you visit display gardens and nurseries to observe the different varieties in bloom and select the ones you like best.

And certainly, keep in mind the growing conditions in your garden so you select plants that are well suited to your specific situation.

Many Iris Offer Lovely True Blue Blooms

Among the iris you will find many excellent blue flowers for the garden besides the early blooming, diminutive Iris reticulata mentioned earlier. Look to the Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) for all different shades of blue from pale to dark. Japanese iris (Iris ensata) offer some exquisite blues if you can meet their need for evenly moist soil. Bearded iris (Iris germanica) are available in many heights ranging from tiny to over four feet tall and require a well drained location. And don't forget the small spreading woodland iris, Iris cristata, which grows well in sun or shade. With so many choices, you should be able to find the perfect blue iris for your blue garden.

Large Perennials with Blue Flowers: Big Blue Flowered Perennials for Your All Blue Flower Garden

Baptisia is one of my favorite spring blooming blue flowered perennials. This can grow very large so if you plant it be sure to allow it ample space in the garden as it is difficult to transplant. Summer blooming Caryopteris and Perovskia are also larger growing perennials (nearly subshrub) offering exquisite blue flowers and again, I have found these to be difficult to transplant so plan ahead to allow them enough room.

Blue Flowers and Golden Foliage Look Dramatic in the All Blue Flower Garden

Tradescantia or spiderwort offers purply blue to blue blooms, sometimes coupled with striking gold foliage such as the cultivar "Blue and Gold." If you like the combination of golden foliage with blue blooms, take a look at the Caryopteris varieties "Worchester Gold" and the more vivid "Sunshine Blue" as well as Centaurea montana "Gold Bullion." The more common form of this perennial, Centaurea montana (mountain bluet, perennial bachelor's button, perennial cornflower) offers eye catching sapphire blue flowers with healthy green foliage.

The All Blue Flower Garden -- Introduction

Blue Flower Bulbs

Blue Perennial Flowers

Blue Ground Covers

Blue Flowers of Fall

Shade Loving and Native Blue Flowers

Blue Annual Flowers

Blue Flowered Shrubs

Specialty Blue Flowers

Vines with Blue Flowers

Blue Garden Décor - A Few Final Touches

All Flower Gardens Articles So Far

The copyright of the article Blue Perennial Flowers in Flower Gardens is owned by Barbara M. Martin. Permission to republish Blue Perennial Flowers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Comments

Sep 19, 2006 8:55 PM

Belinda Mooney :

Can this flower/herb be grown indoors?

Belinda

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Sep 20, 2006 10:00 AM

Barbara M. Martin :

Hi Belinda! Interesting question! Despite the common name pot marigold, I don't really think it is too practical to do this so I have never tried it.

But, apparently it can be done with Calendula officinalis if you have an exceptionally bright indoor growing location.

This makes sense as it prefers full sun outside, although I have found them hard to transplant once they exceed an inch or two in size.

They also take a while to reach blooming stage, so starting them from seed in the fall indoors probably would not work too well due to the shortening days.

One source (herbs2000.com) suggests potting it up and providing a minimum of five hours of direct sun or ample artifical light. It says to pot them up by midsummer and to avoid overwatering.

This plant continues to bloom very late in the season, even through frosts, so it may not be worth bringing indoors unless you really have the right spot for it. In my Pennsylvania garden, despite freezing weather that had already occurred, I once found it blooming on New Years Day! That was the exception of course but it was a delightful discovery.

<b><a href="http://www.garden.org/regional/report/arch/inmygarden/924">Here is a photo!</a></b>.

ps I will eventually change the name of this discussion to Calendula Pot Marigold so others can locate it, too. :)

2 Comments