Re: Blues in the garden for tough spots

I'd second the recommendation for the Blue Pimpernel, and if it is grown hard from seed in full sun, it can be a nice compact grower smothered in flowers, as I saw last Sunday up at the UCBBG in the Medit Plant section of the garden amongst the Aeoniums.  It seems to be more perennial if it is grown with coastal influence and not pampered with too much irrigation and rich soil.  Other native blue flowered annuals that I would also highly recommend as temporary filler amongst slower growing perennials and shrubs would include Baby Blue Eyes/Nemophilia menziesii, which if planted early enough in the fall, can be in bloom from January through April, and can give massive amount of blue flowers.  This annual is so much showier if it is planted out in the fall, and allowed to grow over the winter to bloom instead of buying it in bloom in spring.  The first heat wave usually stops the show with this annual.  The Lithodora diffusa doesn't seem as cast iron a
 plant with no summer irrigation here in warmest parts of the SF Bay Area, and in my experience is also somewhat short lived.

Other blue/mauve/purple flowering perennials that I really like to design around would include Convolvulus sabatianus, which can remain in full bloom for up to 8 months of the year in a sunny SF Bay Area garden.  I also really like Lavandula /multifida for the deep purple blooms which continue nearly all year long.  Not fragrant with Lavender scent as the more well known species, nor as cold and drought tolerant, but it does bloom all year round and adds textural/sculptural interest beyond just the flower color. You may have noticed the theme of long blooming as a landscape characteristic that unites all these recommendations.  As a landscape designer that enjoys designing with massed color in a painterly effect, I seek out long blooming plants that can be used in this fashion.  I'd be remiss to not mention the smelly foliaged Plectranthus neochilus as a tough candidate for mass color, useful as a drought tolerant fast growing ground cover for dry shade
 or full sun. 

One last recommendation would be the incredibly floriferous Selago serrata from South Africa's Western Cape fynbos habitat.  This perennial just explodes into bloom in early summer, and is a butterfly magnet.  Check out the photos of this plant available from Annie's Annuals, as it is still relatively unknown in California gardens, but is equally as showy as something more common such as Limonium perezii of Scabiosa species.


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