My new hubby just loves blue flowers. I want to plan a blue flower garden just for him to enjoy next spring. You should see this great big tough guy when he sees my blue morning glories. He turns into a little kid! Anyway, do you have any blue flowers you particularly like? I'd especially like ones that aren't fussy and do well in heat and humidity.

-- debra in ks (windfish@toto.net), October 06, 2001

Answers

Well, I don't know about not fussy, but Delphiniums are to die for! I especially love the combination of two Pacific Giant varieties, "Blue Skies" and "Blue Bird".

A real no fuss blue flower would be a geranium, the true geranium, not the Pelargonium "geraniums" sold for your porch boxes. Some of the true geraniums are relatively blue and they are pretty much tough as nails. Quite a few are pinkish, but if you look you can find some that are almost true blue.

There are "blue" Campanulas, as well, but most seem to be on the lavender side to my eye. Still, there aren't a lot of blue flowers and these pass for a lot of people.

Don't forget the German Irises. They're great! :)

There are "blue" phlox, too. Kind of fall into the lavender category again, like the camplanula, but they are a very hardy flower and unless mildew is a problem they aren't too bad.

Some Aquilegias are quite blue.

Can't think of any others right off the bat, but if you combine some blue with lots of white, and there are a million white flowers, you can "stretch" the blue look quite a bit. I'm with you hubby, I love the blue flowers. If I could have only one, though, they'd be the Delphiniums. They are just gorgeous. Get a yard full of them and it looks like a garden magazine front cover. :)

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), October 06, 2001.

Bachlor buttons. Mine are a variety of blues shading to pink and lavendar but just blue are available. They are an annual that reseeds here in Utah to bloom twice in one summer at least. I forget to water a lot so they would probably do better at your house. They are rather small but I surely love them.

-- Swanlady (kwelton@brigham.net), October 06, 2001.

For beautiful foliage to back up your plants, try arctic sage. It's got light, airy gray-green foliage with little spikes of blue flowers on it through the summer. Put it next to a seating area or walkway and when you brush against it, you'll get the nicest sage-y scent in the air. Mints are also usually blue flowered, and smell good to walk on, although they can be invasive if you're not careful.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), October 06, 2001.

I stumbled on a blue variety of Butterfly bush (Buddliea? not sure of spelling) and it is absolutely the best looking maintenance free plant I've ever grown. I snipped a little piece of a friends plant,left it in the green house all winter, forgot about it, then remembered and stuck it in the ground this spring. Now it's about 3 foot tall and has bloomed all summer! I am planning on saving some seed- let me know if you want some- I'll be glad to share!

-- Joy (Boogerwoods@msn.com), October 06, 2001.

There is a true blue salvia that is not fussy and the humming birds like it. What other colors are you going to use. I have blue flowers everywhere and I use pale pinks with them. Good luck!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), October 06, 2001.

Ilove the blue in the garden too, brings in the butterflies! I grow a lot of 'Blue days' short bush and very heat tolerant, but I protect it on cool nights even here in Fla. And then the blue 'Spiderwart' This one is intrusive but they are so showy that I put up with that. I can send you a cutting if you want me to.

-- Aagje Franken (Backyardy2k@aol.com), October 06, 2001.

It's hard to have an ALL blue garden -- there aren't as many flowers that come in blue as in, say yellow. Also, blue is a cool receding color, and tends to get overlooked amongst a lot of green foliage. But white flowers and lavender flowers go well with blues, and help fill out the garden. Lady Bells is a nice lavender (it's in the bellflower family). I also like yellow and blue combinations.

Soni's idea of planting something behind the blue flowers to set them off is a good one. Other plants with foliage that is grayish or silvery would be nice.

Early spring bulbs are often blue -- Siberian squill, grape hyacinths, some crocuses, etc. Perhaps you could plan your garden to have various "blue focal points" over the season. Mass your blue plants that bloom in a particular season near each other, and have other colors around the garden in other spots.

Asters bloom in late summer into fall. I think there are some blue varieties amongst them. There is some variety of hydrangea that, depending on whether the soil is acid or alkaline, the flowers are either blue or pink (I THINK it's acid soil that makes the blue, but I am not certain). If you don't have the right conditions for that, you might be able to dig out a large area, create the right soil pH, and have success.

If you have a wet spot, perhaps you could find some blue flag (iris family) to plant there. Someone else mentioned irises, didn't they?

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), October 06, 2001.

bachelor buttons, forget-me-nots, blue columbine, periwinkle, chickory, flax, blue violets, blue lobelia, bluebells.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), October 06, 2001.

Irises come in lots of blues. Globe thistles are pretty easy. Flax is too. Baptisia is a shrubby perennial with blue flowers. Borage and chickory are herbs with blue flowers and they are striking and easy. Lupins come in a nice blue and bloom here in June and like lean soil (grow in ditches etc here).

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 06, 2001.

My dad's big into ageratums for borders in his bed. They are vigorous growers that bloom their butts off and are hard to kill. They fill in very well. Bren tells me that there are new more blue and more purple varieties. I personally vote for the all-blue garden. It sounds enchan ting to me. Perhaps with a nice Muga pine for some more of that blue spruce type of blue... have fun with it and let us know how it turns out.

-- gilly (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 06, 2001.

For an electric, cobalt-colored blue, try lobelia.

-- gita (gschmitz@directcon.net), October 07, 2001.

Got to agree with irises - all shades of blue, and all blue-shaded (like violet, lavender, etc). Which brings us to violet and lavender - blue-shaded but not blue. Old-fashioned violets look beautiful, smell beautiful, and are more-or-less bullet-proof. If moving towards the purple shades is acceptable, then the range widens. I don't know your climate - I suspect what I'll now mention is too warm-climate for you, but a bed of agapanthus under jacaranda trees, both in full flower, is really spectacular - virtually the same light-purple colour, from the earth to the sky.

Someone already mentioned borage. Chives also have a pretty blue flower, and are useful. Also garlic chives, with a straight-out simple purple flower. Rosemary has small blue flowers but masses of them on the shrub, is extremely hardy, is a useful and tasty herb, and bees love it.

Bluebells, of course. Hydrangeas can be an intense blue - this depends on their ability to take up aluminium from the soil, which can (depending on variety) vary with soil acidity or alkalinity. In general, bury a little steel wool around the roots (make the soil go acid) for blue hydrangeas; use lime for pink. There are a few strains of sweetpeas with blue flowers. Lupins, as someone said. Larkspurs - nothing easier - they will go on growing from seed forever, but are not so pernicious as to be a weed. Grape hyacinth. Anemones - such an intense blue that you know they're rich in an ultra-violet spectrun you're not seeing directly.

Paulownia trees - they take a lot of looking-after to produce usable wood, but the flower spikes are REALLY spectacular.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 07, 2001.

And when you get this garden going, Debra, make sure you take photos and post them! ;-)

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), October 07, 2001.

Blue pansies for the cooler spring temperatures are beautiful!

-- Sharon/WI (pinnow@inwave.com), October 08, 2001.

Debra. Blow his mind with balloonflowers. Here in So. Wisconsin, mine are still blooming in October. But remember where you plant them as they may not peek through the ground until late May.

-- Martin W. Longseth (tmofmadison@aol.com), October 09, 2001.

Jacobs ladder is my favorite. It is a perennial. And it comes in a true blue.

-- rosemary (rosemary.lester@citynet.net), February 01, 2002.

I have thought of a few more. There's a blue veronica, and it blooms and blooms. And it is very easy to grow and it's a perennial, which means it returns every year. And there is even a pale blue rose out there! Blue boy is the name I believe. Forget-me-nots is another perennial that blooms in spring. And last but not least, is the perennial flower blue flax. It will usually only have foilage the first year (it looks like a fern) but the second year it will be loaded with blooms that come back every year.Happy gardening!

-- rosemary (rosemary.lester@ citynet.net), February 03, 2002.

I've seen all my favorites listed 'cept asiatic dayflower.

-- carol (kanogisdi@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002.

I love blue too. Some of mine will be repeats of the others- bachelor buttons, delphiniums, iris, ornamental globe thistle( sort of a metallic electric blue), and there is something in our garden that is an intense blue-purple, I believe it is hyssop (not anise hyssop). It is a shrubby, evergreen plant that has flattened needles and smells a little piney. There are supposedly lavenders and sweet peas that are blue, but sometimes these trun out to be lavender, not blue. It seems also that some rosemary varieties are blue.

By the way, yelllow really sets off the intense cobalt blue, they are very attractove together. Something like the lemon gem marigold, with little, single flowers looks very attractive, it is just enough and not overpowering. Alternately, silvery-gray foilage plants also go well with blue.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), February 09, 2002.