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Blue Flowering Perennials

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Blue Flowering Perennials 

Though not all blue perennial flowers are harbingers of spring, enough of them are to associate them with the end of winter and the coming of warmer weather. They range in shades from the palest blue to nearly black, but all of them make an excellent contribution to any garden, whether they’re grouped in pots, are part of an herbaceous border, or add beauty to a flower bed. Best of all, like perennials, they come back year after year. Here are four blue perennials:

 Virginia Bluebells

 Best grown in hardiness zones 3 through 8, this beautiful perennial proliferates in well-drained, average soil in part to full shade. It grows to a height of about 2 feet with a spread of 1 to 1.5 feet. It needs medium watering and maintenance, can tolerate some nibbling by rabbits, and has no serious problems when it comes to pests or diseases. Virginia bluebells can even tolerate being planted near black walnut trees, which sends out a toxin that kills other plants.

Blue Flowering Perennials look great with green fern plants.

  The showy flowers are trumpet-shaped, blue, about an inch long, and arrive in the earliest spring. The leaves are smooth and blue-green. The plant goes dormant in the summer.

 Blue Lobelia

 The blue lobelia or lobelia siphiliica gets its epithet because it was once thought to cure certain diseases. Also called the blue cardinal flower, it does best in hardiness zones 4 to 9. Lobelia does well in part shade and full sun. It loves wet, fertile soil and maybe just the thing for a rain garden. The plant grows from 2 to 3 feet in height with a 1 to 1.5-foot spread. It’s a low maintenance plant, and if cared for can readily colonize a space that may be too moist for other plants.

Blue Flowering Perennials can grow well in shady gardens.

  The flowers are light blue to dark blue and tube-shaped while the leaves are bright green and fern-like.

 Vinca Minor

 The common periwinkle makes an excellent ground cover, for it doesn’t grow more than a half a foot high. Each plant has a 1.5-foot spread. It produces its lovely, tubular flowers from May to June and may continue to blossom into the fall. It flourishes in hardiness zones 4 to 8 in full sun to part shade and prefers soil that’s dry or medium. Though the lavender-blue flowers are showy, another benefit of vinca minor is that its smooth, glossy, 1.5 inch long leaves are evergreen. It’s a robust plant that can stand drought, poor soil, and deer.

 Agapanthus

 The leaves of the agapanthus, or African lily are evergreen and add interest to the garden in winter. This plant is native to South Africa and likes the heat of hardiness zones 8 to 10, though it can be grown successfully in a container in colder climates. It grows to about 2 feet tall with a similar spread, and its blossoms arrive from June to July. 

 The African lily does best in full sun to part shade and likes medium watering. The flowers are funnel-shaped and come in clusters that rise above a mound of strap-like leaves.