Blue Flowers Chase Away the Winter Blues

When asked to name a radiant blue perennial for sun, I bet one of the first plants you think of is delphinium.  A few of my favorite rich blue varieties are ‘Bluebird’, ‘Cobalt Dreams’ (pictured left), Centurian ‘Gentian Blue’ and ‘Bellamosum’.  These are all taller cultivars, most towering over 4’.  Shorter varieties, many in the chinensis group, are ‘Blue Mirror’, ‘Diamonds Blue’, ‘Blue Elf’ and ‘Summer Cloud’.  Remember that all delphinium can be short-lived, with a three to four year lifespan.  And they hate wet feet, especially in the winter months.

Another lovely blue lady for sun, far too underused, is aster.  Most blue aster have a tinge of lavender in the bloom, but the overall sensation is blue.  This is a welcome color in late summer and fall when blue-flowering perennials are rare. I was riveted when I first saw Aster oblongifolius ‘October Skies’ (pictured). This native plant gets about 18” tall and is adored by butterflies.  Aster X frikartii ‘Monch’ is another head-turner, reaching 2’-3’ tall.  Aster laevis ‘ Bluebird’ rockets to 4’ tall but can be pinched back in June to create a shorter, fuller-flowering beauty.

Two shade lovers with ‘blue-tiful’ blooms are Pulmonaria ‘Blue Ensign’(pictured) and Gentiana.  ‘Blue Ensign’ has sapphire-blue blooms in spring with long, narrow green leaves that have no white spotting. I have grown over a dozen different lungwort and this is hands down my favorite. 

The Gentian family is quite large but almost every member has glorious blue flowers. Gentians bloom in summer or fall and can prefer sun or shade.   An unusual one is called Bottle Gentian or Closed Gentian (Gentian andrewsii).  Native to eastern North America and a Missouri native wildflower, the blue flowers appear in fall in part shade.  It gets 1’-2’ tall is pollinated almost exclusively by bumble bees because they are one of the few insects strong enough to pry open the closed, bottle-nose flowers.

And my two woody plants for frosty blue leaves (there are so many choices!) are Fothergilla ‘Blue Shadows’ and an evergreen ‘Sester Dwarf’ blue spruce. Fothergilla ‘Blue Shadow’ (pictured) has bottlebrush, creamy-white, fragrant flowering in spring that appear before the blue leaves flush out.  Then as fall approaches, the leaves turn into a sizzling red, yellow and orange display that rivals any invasive burning bush. The shrub enjoys part sun to part shade, needs little pruning and grows between 3’ and 6’ tall.

‘Sester Dwarf’ (pictured below) is a miniature version of a mighty blue spruce. I have a stunning specimen in front of my little condo.  It’s very slow growing (it only grows a couple of inches a year) and gets about 10’ tall (I won’t see mine get that tall in my life time!)  Like all blue-needled conifers it needs full sun.  If you like reading my blogs, please sign up for my gardening newsletters and like me on Facebook!