My Favorite Blue Flowers

In surveys, blue is the world’s most popular color. And for many gardeners, blue is also their favorite flower color. This past spring, our perennial expert, Bonnie Hickey, gave a talk on blue flowers. These are a few things she mentioned:

Blue flowers blend nicely with many other colors and can create a calming effect or an exciting effect depending on the companion colors you choose. The softer shades of blue combine well with soft yellow, pink, white and apricot and also with plants with silver foliage. Deeper blues provide high impact combined with golden yellow, orange, or red flowers or chartreuse foliage. To keep an all-blue border from getting monotonous, add a pop of white or another color here and there.

Using plants with blue foliage is another way to add blue to your garden. Some hostas, dianthus, and some of the ornamental grasses have almost true-blue foliage.

Here is a chart of the characteristics of my favorite blue flowers. Choose the ones that will work for you. You can’t go wrong with flower combinations using blue.

 

Name Type Height Bloom Time Sun or Shade? Other
Sky Blue Lobelia Annual 8″ All summer Partial to full shade Pure sky blue color
Bachelor Buttons Annual 30″ June Sun Reseeds
Rosanne Hardy Geranium Perennial 20″, 3′ spread June-Aug Partial to full shade Deer Res
May Night Salvia Perennial 18″ June-July Sun Deer Res
Russian Sage Perennial 4 ft Late summer Sun Deer Res
Brunnera Perennial 12-15″ Spring Shade Variegated foliage
Pulmonaria Perennial ground cover 12″ Spring Shade Spotted leaves
Vinca Minor Perennial ground cover 10″ Spring Shade  
Iris Perennial corm 2-3′ June Sun Plant in late summer
Giant Allium Perennial bulb 3 ft June Sun Deer res. Plant in fall
Siberian Squill Perennial bulb 5″ Spring sun Spreads. Plant in fall
Hosta Perennial Varies Summer Shade Blue foliage
Blue Oat Grass Ornamental Grass   Summer Sun Deer res
Elijah Blue Fescue Ornamental Grass 8-12″ Late summer Sun