You will love having stunning
True blue flowers are not abundant in nature. But if you get some, they are eye-catching and really get them. Plants with blue flowers add a calming, cool color to your landscape. Choose from these easy-care perennials, annuals, shrubs, vines and flowering bulbs in various shades of blue.
1. Blue Hydrangea
A large, blue hydrangea is absolutely breathtaking. You can turn your large leaf hydrangeas sky blue by increasing the acidity of the soil. Adding soil sulfur is one way to do this. Bigleaf hydrangeas usually bloom on last year's growth, so if you must prune them, do so right after they finish blooming. Look for new varieties bred under the name Endless Summer that produce flowers on both new and old growth.
2. Perennial Geranium
Plenty of plants offer purple flowers that lean toward blue, but perennial geranium 'Roseanne' is one of the best. This long-blooming geranium blooms from June until frost, producing a nearly endless supply of violet-blue flowers.
3. Delphinium
Delphiniums offer some true blue flowers. Although perennials, these plants are short-lived and do not do well in heat and humidity, so they are sometimes considered annuals. Taller delphinium varieties should be kept so that their flower spikes do not topple over in the wind. Grow them in soil rich in organic matter and provide a balanced fertilizer to promote excellent blue flowers.
4. Heart-leaved Brunnera
A beautiful, but underused, shade plant, prunnera (which also goes by the common name Siberian buclos) produces sprays of small, pale-blue, spring flowers that resemble forget-me-nots. Add to the color display by choosing a variegated selection with silver-stained leaves, such as 'Jack Frost', 'Silver Heart' or 'King's Ransom' (shown here).
5. Grape hyacinth
A small but beautiful spring-blooming bulb, grape hyacinth produces clusters of blue flowers in the center. You can also find varieties that bear purple, white or yellow flowers.
6. Clematis
Blooming in a range of colors, clematis is a beautiful vine to add to your garden. True blue-flowering varieties include 'Crystal Fountain,' 'Ice Blue,' or 'Arabella.'
7. Bluestar
As you might have guessed, bluestar has starry blue flowers that appear in late spring. This native plant is heat, drought, deer and rabbit resistant. By the end of the season the leaves turn a beautiful shade of yellow.
8. Leadwort
Also known as hardy plumbago, leadwort is a vigorous perennial groundcover. It shows off its sky-blue flowers and rich red fall foliage at the end of the season. This plant grows slowly in the shade, but still blooms well.
9. Bellflower
Often used in cottage gardens, mandibles produce star or bell-shaped flowers in blue, purple, pink or white. Many long-stemmed varieties make excellent cut flowers. Dwarf varieties such as 'Pearl Deep Blue' work well as ground covers.
10. Salvia
Both annual and perennial salvia varieties have become garden champions for their heat and drought tolerance, as well as the fact that deer and rabbits tend to leave them alone. For true blue flowers, Salvia azurea or S. Check out Patens (shown here). Other varieties of salvia, such as 'May Night' or 'Blue Mound', offer more violet-blue flowers.
11. Balloon flower
An easy-to-grow perennial, balloon flower offers puffy, round buds that open to beautiful blue, pink or white star-shaped flowers for several weeks in summer.
12. Aster
One of the last plants to bloom in many gardens, asters light up the fall landscape and draw in pollinators with their starry flowers. These perennials also make long-lasting cut flowers.
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