Blue Flowers or Flower Parts

Large spikes of deep indigo-blue, pea-like flowers are produced atop a neat mound of blue-green foliage in spring to early summer, depending on your zone, attracting bees and other garden beneficials. DECADENCE® Blueberry Sundae Baptisia, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), produces darker blue flowers than its parent, Baptisia australis or Blue Wild Indigo, and has improved vigor and foliage that lasts through summer. It was selected as one of the top ten in the 2012-15 Baptisia Trials at Mount Cuba Center and is reported to produce over 280 flowering stems on mature plants! These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12664

Dooley Hydrangea produces large mopheads of rich blue or pink, depending on soil pH. This is a vigorous growing, exceptionally cold hardy Big Leaf Hydrangea introduced by Dr. Michael Dirr.Hydrangeas are easy to grow deciduous shrubs that prefer partly shaded areas of the garden with a rich, moist but not wet, soil. Prune immediately after flowering to control size and shape. Provide midday and afternoon shade in hot southern climates. Item# 384

The large deep purplish-blue star-shaped flowers open from balloon shaped buds look as though one flower was neatly tucked inside the other. The Double Blue Balloon flower is a clump forming taprooted perennial that produces more and more flowering stems as the plant ages. They begin to flower in about mid summer and continue nearly until fall. Double Blue is a larger growing variety that can reach about 30" high and also produces purple and yellow fall color. It was also one of the top-rated cultivars from the Chicago Botanic Garden's trials receiving 4 out of 4 stars. An easy, low maintenance, and conversation starting perennial for the garden and landscape. Item# 11629

Tall spikes adorned with whorls of 3/8" purple flowers edged in light lavender are produced throughout the growing season and the nectar rich flowers attract butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and even hummingbird moths. From the breeding work of the Durham twins of east Texas, Darrell and Jerrell, comes this unusual picoteed color form of Porterweed. These are vigorous well-branched herbaceous to shrub-like tropical perennials that revel in the heat and sun of summer providing a continuous display of flowers and pollinators until the first frost. The flower power of Porterweeds makes them worthy of being grown as annuals where not hardy or they can be overwintered as container plants in a warm sunny location indoors. Provide a full to mostly sunny location with average or better drainage and moderate fertility for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 11967

Drooping clusters of blue blooms are borne practically throughout the year. Tropical glossy green ginger-like foliage is borne on stiff fleshy stems. Item # 998

Clusters of blue to light blue, star-shaped flowers are borne in spring on sturdy stems atop the wide foliage. The Eastern Bluestar makes a wonderful garden addition with a mannerly clump forming habit and excellent pest and disease resistance. Yellow fall foliage color adds to its interest. Tolerant of wet to average moist soils. Eastern Bluestar is an easy to grow and reliable native perennial. The flowers attract butterflies and hummingbird moths. Item# 10268

Eva Lyon Holmes is a repeat blooming Hydrangea sporting large Mopheads of pink or blue beginning in late spring and will continue to bloom on new growth into summer and fall. Repeat blooming Hydrangea varieties will bloom even after extreme cold has frozen the buds of older varieties making them more suitable choices for northern regions. item# 9074.

Deep red to bronze foliage on a bromeliad that multiplies readily creating a dense beautiful basket of medium-sized cascading plants. The Fire Ball Bromeliad, a type of Neoregelia, makes an easy low maintenance tropical-looking hanging basket plant or grow it as an epiphyte on wood or cork. The more intense the lighting is the more this Bromeliad looks like it is on fire! Item# 415

A vigorous and reliably long flowering full sized Balloon Flower, Fuji Blue produces both single and double purple-blue flowers with darker veining beginning in midsummer and continuing into fall atop a vigorous upright growing stems that can exceed 3' high. This was one of the top-rated Balloon Flowers receiving 4 out of 4 stars in the ten year long trials at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Balloon Flowers are taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering stems as the plants age and expect this one to reach about 2-1/2' wide at maturity. Fall brings foliage colors in purple and yellow shades. An easy and low maintenance conversation starting perennial for the garden and landscape. Image courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc. Item# 11670

Vigorous, repeat flowering, and reliably hardy to zone 6! Large rounded clusters, to 5" across, composed of deep blue trumpets are perched atop strong 3-4' sturdy stems on a tight clump forming plant with upright to arching narrow rich green foliage. Galaxy Blue Agapanthus has been successfully trialed for over 7 years in Zeeland, Michigan by the folks at Walter's Gardens with excellent reliability, vigor and cold hardiness.Flowering may begin in mid spring in zone 8 but will likely flower in summer where winters are coldest. Use Galaxy Blue Agapanthus anywhere you want to make a statement, including as a specimen container plants. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item#12735

An unusual plant rarely found for sale in the US, Giant Blue African Salvia produces spikes, up to 16" high, of blue to purple, up to 2" long, hooded, two-lipped, tubular, lightly fragrant flowers throughout the warmer months of the year with the heaviest flowering in spring and late summer and fall. A vigorous tender herbaceous plant with very large tropical foliage and square stems that can easily reach 6-9' high and may grow to 15' high becoming tree-like in its native habitat. Item# 10703.

You can grow this award winning Bluebeard for its foliage alone! The new bright yellow spring foliage retains its color throughout the growing season even in the hot and humid south. In late summer and fall, dense whorled clusters of deep violet-blue, nectar rich, tubular flowers are held above and among the wonderfully contrasting foliage. Gold Crest Bluebeard, a Caryopteris hybrid, was selected for its heat tolerant brilliant foliage, for its dense compact habit, and its pollinator attracting flowers. In zone 6 Bluebeard tends to act more like a clump forming die-back perennial and becomes more shrub-like where winters are milder, although, it benefits from a hard late winter or early spring pruning since it flowers on new growth. Somewhat drought resistant once well-established and prefers a sunny site in a well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Won Best Pollinator Friendly Perennial for the Southeast in 2019 at the UGA Trial Gardens and was rated above a 4.5 out 5 at both Penn State(2021) and Mississippi State(2020) trial gardens as 2nd year perennials! Images courtesy of Ball Horticulture, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12506

Purplish-blue, 4-6'' spikes are held above, and contrast nicely with, the bright golden to greenish yellow, anise scented foliage in summer. An upright growing clump forming perennial. This popular herb is considered one of the 50 fundamental Chinese herbs and is great for making jellies, potpourris, teas, soups, and more. An excellent plant for attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Item# 10450.

A blue flowered Sasanqua! Dark purple buds open to purplish-red the first day and change to lavender-blue the second creating a multi-colored effect on this semi-dwarf evergreen Sasanqua in fall. The blues are intensified in acid soils. Rich deep green rounded foliage on a compact rounded plant. Very similar to Shi-Shi Gashira in foliage and habit and is a chance seedling of the Louisiana Super Plant selection Shi-Shi Gashira. Item# 9636.

Flat topped clusters of bluish-purple Ageratum-like flowers are borne atop short sturdy stems that are adorned with finely cut and softly textured, medium green foliage. The flowers attract loads of butterflies as well as other pollinators and Gregg's Mist Flower flowers most heavily beginning in late summer and lasting through fall. Its rhizomatous though non-aggressive nature makes this durable and drought resistant perennial an excellent addition to the garden where it can be utilized as a groundcover as well as in naturalistic settings. It does seem to prefer a little midday and afternoon shade, especially in the hottest summer climates and in dryer settings. Item# 10811.

Large panicles, 12-18" in height, are composed of the deepest royal blue, 1" long, nectar-rich, tubular, two-lipped flowers that are produced from late spring or early summer until fall. Guatemalan Leaf Sage, Salvia cacaliifolia, develops into a mound of deep green, fragrant, triangular and somewhat sticky foliage and is considered to be hardy into zone 8 as a die-back perennial. This interesting flower-power filled Salvia has been awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit for its adaptability and reliability. It is also highly popular with hummingbirds, larger butterflies, and bees. In areas with cooler summers Guatemalan Leaf Sage can tolerate full sun in other regions it will prefer, like the rest of us, a little shade during the heat of the day. Item# 11917

Spikes of 1" blue to purple tubular flowers that are tipped with white on the lower two petals are produced over an extended period beginning in mid to late spring into late summer if moisture is adequate. Heartleaf Skullcap, Scuttelaria ovata, is a shade-loving rhizomatous groundcovering evergreen native perennial with heart-shaped foliage that emerges a purplish red to burgundy and maintains a tinge of that coloration even at maturity. This species is widely distributed throughout much of central and eastern US and extends into both Canada and northern Mexico. Heartleaf Skullcap is tolerant of dry shade once well-established which is one of the more difficult combinations for plants to thrive in. It will be most apt to flower longest under average moisture conditions. The flowers attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and other garden beneficials. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries, all rights reserved. Item# 11979

Spikes up to 16-20" high are topped by clusters of tubular blue to blue-violet flowers with a contrasting white bee-guide are produced beginning as early as late spring but mainly in summer, occasionally into fall, and attract a variety of native bees along with larger butterflies. Helmet Skullcap, Scutellaria integrifolia, is a small, 12-20" high, clump forming to short rhizomatous perennial native from East Texas, all along the Gulf Coast and up the Eastern Seaboard into southern Massachussets and New York. This is a common component of the brightly lit understory in the Pineywoods and locally we typically see it in dryer or mesic uplands including hardwood and pineforests in well-drained loamy and sandy soils as well as in more moist sunnier sites. Provide a full sun to partly shaded site in a well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. May reseed on exposed soils. Item# 12769

Large dense branched pannicles to 12" x 12" are composed of multitudes of small pale purple tubular flowers are produced over an extended period through much of summer and attract a variety of pollinators including smaller shorter tongued bees like Honeybees as well as larger native bees like Bumblebees. The large palmate foliage of Hempleaf Vitex resembles that of the Hemp plant and thus the specific epithet of "cannibifolia". Like its close cousin the Chaste Tree, Vitex agnus-castus, the Hempleaf Vitex, Vitex negundo var. cannibofolia, is an easy to grow sun and heat loving deciduous shrub that prefers an average to well-drained soil. It appears to have few pests or disease issues and is unlikely to be bothered by deer. Item# 11879

We have quit growing Henry Duelberg Mealycup sage in favor of Big Blue Salvia (sage and salvia  are interchangabled names),   2018 Best of the Best Award at the UGA Trial Gardens! The deep indigo tubular flowers emerge from whorls of dark colored calyxes adorning tall dark spikes that are held above the rich green foliage and are produced from late spring or early summer to frost. Big Blue Salvia, a seed grown strain with the same parentage of and is an improvement upon the award winning Indigo Spires, develops into a full bushy herbaceous perennial growing to about 2-3' high by 2' wide. The summerlong display of flowers attracts a myriad of pollinators and highly popular with larger native bees. Use Big Blue Salvia at the back of the border, in larger containers, as well as in the garden and landscape. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a fertile, average moist soil with average or better drainage for optimum vigor and continuous flowering. Images courtesy of Ball Horticulture, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12876

USDA Cold Hardiness Zones: 8,9,10,11,(7?)

Grows To: 2-3'H x 2'W

Outdoor Light: Full sun, Mostly sunny, Part shade