Add Rich Color To Your Garden With Blue Perennial Flowers

Blue flowers are some of the most striking plants around and can add a rich splash of color to any garden. Plant them in a cluster of all blue or mix them in with other flowers for a rainbow of color.

When planting flowers, it is important to remember to follow the instructions on the tag for the plant. Always buy plants that will thrive in the conditions in which you intend to grow them. A plant that loves sun won't do well in a shady area and you will only be disappointed with the results.

When planning your garden, be aware of the bloom time of the flowers. Planting perennials with different bloom times near each other will insure a garden that has blooms all season long. Remember also to plan for the height of the plants, putting the taller ones in the back.

Below is a list of favorite blue flowering plants that you might want to consider for your garden:

Polemonuim, Blue Pearl - A compact plant with deep sky blue flowers that grows to 10". It blooms in late spring to early summer. Plant in partial shade and in well drained soil.

Blue Sea Holly - This dramatic plant has a lavender blue cone like flower with long spiked petals. It grows to 30" and is a favorite for dried flower arrangements. Plant in full sun - blooms in mid to late summer.

Delphinium, Butterfly Blue - Bright blue delicate flowers adorn this plant that blooms in early to mid summer. It reaches 10" tall and prefers a sunny location with rich moist soil.

Campanula, Blue Carpet - Bright blue to lilac colored flowers bloom for weeks in the middle of summer. This low growing perennial grows to 4" and prefers full sun with well drained soil.

Penstemon, Blue Buckle - This plant has tubular shaped blooms in blue to purple and flowers in mid summer to early fall. It grows to 15" and likes well drained soil with full or partial sun.

Hydrangea, Nikko Blue - Gigantic clumps of blue flowers adorn this shrub for most of the summer. In the fall, the flowers turn a golden color. This plant is a new variety that prefers rich soil but will grow in shade, partial sun or full sun.

Vinca - Medium blue flowers and glossy green leaves form a carpet that grows to about 6" tall and blooms in mid spring. This plant will grow in most soil conditions, in the shade or sun.

Ajuga, Bronze Beauty - This short bushy plant has spikes of blue flowers that grows quickly. Great as a ground cover or in raised beds. It blooms in spring and prefers a shady area.

Scabiosa, Butterfly Blue - A bushy perennial with lavender blue flowers that bloom from June to October. This plant likes full sun and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.

Verbena, Babylon Blue - Blue purple flowers petals adorn this plant that blooms in early spring. Great for window boxes and planters.

Additional information and resources for this article can be found at: http://www.garden-source.com/archives/2005/05/24/add-rich-color-to-your-garden-with-blue-perennial-flowers/

A beautiful blue wildflower picture can be found at: http://www.garden-source.com/archives/2005/06/02/blue-wildflower-in-kathys-garden/

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About the Author

© 2005 This article is provided courtesy of The Garden Source Network - http://www.garden-source.com This article may be freely published on any website, as long as the links are live, and this notice is left intact.

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Indoor Gardening

If you’re living in the middle of the Amazon jungle, the last thing I would recommend for you to do is try your hand at indoor gardening. After all, why try to compete with mother nature and come out looking like an amateur? But if, like most of the population of the western world you don’t actually live at the foot of a rain forest then I would really recommend looking into indoor gardening. As a jungle substitute of course.

Why would you go for an indoor garden - as opposed to an outdoor one of course? The reasons are pretty simple really. You don’t need to get too mucky grubbing around on your hands and feet in the dirt. You’ll almost never need to brave the harsher weather elements that nature will throw at you for trying to compete with her. It will make your house look nice, and you feel good. And ultimately in the grand scheme of things, it’s good for you.

It’s difficult to imagine how indoor gardening could be good for you, but really it has nothing to do with the gardening itself, more with the plants instead. If you hark back to the good old days of high school and peer pressure, you might just remember vaguely hearing something in science class about plants and photo-something-or-other.

To refresh your memory, it’s a procedure called photosynthesis, where plants remove carbon dioxide from the air, and release oxygen into it instead, thereby removing pollutants from our environment. If you’re living in a jungle there’s not too much of a problem with that, but living as we are in our singular little houses, indoor plants are the next best thing. Thus the indoor gardening.

When planning your lovely miniature rainforest - substitute ‘indoor garden’ - you have a variety of stunning plant options to choose from. Ones that the outdoor gardner might not be privy to. I won’t go into a list of possible indoor plants right now as the list is longer than my arm, but if you are interested I would suggest you take a look around in your local plant nursery.

You’ll get a good idea of what types of plants there are for you to choose from, and what types are a no, no. They just won’t grow indoors! You’ll also find with indoor gardening that some plants can be temperamental and will flat out refuse to grow anywhere within a walled-in and roofed area! A simple and easy place to start with would be try your hand at herb gardening. Simple to grow, useful in the kitchen, and best of all not the prima donna type.

Gardening, of any kind, just doesn’t get any better than indoor gardening, especially if you’re not an outdoorsy type of person and don’t want a close encounter with the wormy kind. Or any other type of crawly insect that resides in your outdoor garden, not your indoor garden. The benefits of indoor gardening just keep growing!

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Taking Care of Perennials in Your Garden

For a very long time, perennials have been one of the more popular varieties of flowering plants. One of the biggest advantages of planting perennials in your garden is that they come back every year. Perennials are popular with both beginning gardeners and experienced gardeners because of the rewards reaped for planting them and being able to have beautiful flowers for multiple seasons.

Another benefit of planting perennials is that they are often easy plants to maintain. Usually perennials are quite easy to care for, and don’t require too much extra maintenance, usually just some good quality soil, adequate water and plenty of sunshine. They do have some issues that you should be aware of, one of the most serious being that they are more apt to get plagued by insect and disease than annuals, which only live for one season. Because perennials remain planted in the ground and come back year after year means that they are prime targets for various types of problems, even in fall or winter.

In order to prevent disease or infestation, it is best to buy the healthiest looking plants that you can find. Pay close attention to the plants you buy at the nursery or home center, and do not buy any that show visible signs of disease, fungus, or insect infestation. Healthy plants are stronger plants, and therefore are better able to withstand any bacteria that might be in the soil. A healthy plant will be able to fungi or bacteria that would likely kill off a weaker one.

If you can find them, look for disease-resistant varieties of perennial plants. They have been specially bred for resistance to diseases and insects. Through the process of selective breeding, perennial plant breeders have worked hard choose certain plant varieties that able to survive many common garden problems.

Once you plant your perennials, check them daily for any signs of disease of insect infestation. The ideal time to do this is when you are performing your normal plant maintenance, such as weeding or watering them. Make it part of your general plant maintenance routine. Look for plants with wilted leaves, holes or chew marks on the leaves, dark areas on the leaves or flowers, or chew marks or cut marks on the stems. If you notice any problems, use a gardening manual consult a more experienced gardener to figure out the problem. If you diagnose the problem quickly and accurately, you have a better chance of saving the plant.

The method that you use to water your perennials can affect whether they become diseased. Watering from overhead, such as with sprinklers, promotes the water to pool up on the leaves, which can encourage mold or bacteria to spread among the plants. It is preferred that you water at the root, either through drip irrigation or a garden hose. Not only will this keep water from pooling up on the leaves and flowers, but it the water will reach the roots more quickly, where it really needs to be.

Good care for your perennials is not over at the end of the growing season. It is important to continue to care for your plants even after they have stopped flowering. Make sure you prune your perennial plants according to the specifications for the particular variety. While some varieties of perennials need to be trimmed back drastically, others need very little pruning or none at all. It is vital to heed the needs of each of the types of perennials in your garden.

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About Ken Snowie:
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