Blue Gardening - Blue on Blue

A blue garden is the fantasy of many. While sometimes hard to achieve, the materials are available to make it happen, especially in spring where bulbs and associated groundcovers are concerned.

The problem with a blue gardens is there are just so many intriguing and enticing flowers of rival shades waiting to jump into your hands at every appealing nursery.

It is just bound to happen sooner or later, which ultimately opens the floodgates to a rainbow of possible alternatives. Still, to do it at least once in a lifetime is an experience worth the wait and eternally remembered.

A simple blue patch in a spring border is incredibly easy to achieve with a minimum of work. There are that many hardy, easily grown bulbs and groundcovers suitable to a wide range of locations.

Mind you, the better the site, the better your chances, but most of the following list actually prefer a little stress and extremes, if you know what I mean lazy gardeners! Choose a sunny site with excellent air circulation.

Create a rich, freely draining soil with elevated spots or containers ( perhaps blue ceramics) to accommodate those special blues like lobelia or lithodora that demand perfect drainage.

Surrounding the site with dark green or blue shrubs and trees (ceanothus, prosanthera, hydrangea), foliage, art, walls, etc. will greatly enhance the overall blue effect.

When seen in the right light, the impact can be ultradimensional, especially if the blues match closely all the way around. For this reason mass plantings of the right blue flowers have greater impact than one each of a hundred varieties.

One of the simplest combinations is Spanish or English Bluebell or Roman Hyacinth, and Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis). This combination will thrive and spread quickly in partly shaded or sunny sites with average moisture.

For easy accents or larger, bold statement clumps try planting any of the following list of easily grown garden plants: Dutch hyacinths, violets, tulip, pansy and viola, mixed with freesia “mozart” (for that special fragrance) creates a cottage garden heart throb.

Rhododendron “Crater Lake” and some beautiful blue hybrids look stunning when underplanted with blue cinerarias and a border of blue ageratum; crocus, iris, anemones, short and tall, make excellent beds and clumps.

Clematis vines produce some of the most striking blues in nature; when planted together anchusa (perennial forget-me-not) and aquilegia strengthen each others’ blue hues while physically supporting one another.

Felicia is a blue all it’s own contrasting well with the intense cobalt blues of phacelia (California Bluebell); phlox subalta or pratia combined with ipheion makes a stunning container display; babiana, brodiaea or tretelela work well with blue alyssum and the list goes on and on.

The complete list would indeed be nearly one hundred different species easily grown here, but not necessarily all easily available. Good luck trying!

back to top