In Search of True Blue Flowers

Just about everyone loves the color blue. As a landscape designer, when I interview people on what colors they would like to include in their gardens, blue is nearly always mentioned.

There are a number of blue flowers that can be used in gardens, but I always seem to come back to a select few because of their toughness and adaptability to hot Maryland summers. My criteria for using any perennial in gardens are a long blooming period, ability to survive with little care and good foliage when not in bloom. The following perennials meet all those requirements.

Balloon Flower (Platycodon, Sentimental Blue)

Also known as bellflower or Chinese lantern, balloon flowers attract birds, bees and butterflies to your garden. I love how the flowers puff up like little balloons before bursting into bell shaped flowers. The cultivar sentimental blue has a compact habit of only 8 to 10 inches high and blooms in July and August. Because of it's mounding habit, I use it as an edger for flower beds. The foliage is a glossy bright green with toothed edges and a great looking puffy seedpod that remains until the winter.

Stokes Aster (Stokesia, Peachie's Pick)

Peachie's pick is the best of the stokes aster varieties. It forms a dense and tight rosette of foliage that is topped with dozens of large blue flowers from late June into July. Stokes asters are a favorite food of yellow tail butterflies and are deer resistant. This perennial has incredible flower power and just keeps producing more buds throughout the season especially with an occasional trim. The flowers prefer sun and grow up to about 20 inches tall.

Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera)

Brunnera prefers shade unlike the balloon flowers and the stokes aster. Similar to forget-me-nots with masses of tiny airy intense blue flowers held above heart shaped fuzzy leaves, brunneras bloom in the spring when most perennials are just starting. Deer resistant and tolerant of dry shade, the flowers make good ground cover. The 'Jack Frost' variety is a beautiful version with a crackle-like frosted overlay on top of the green foliage.