Do you remember the show “Canadian Gardener” that ran on CBC many years ago? What a great gardening show, hosted by the knowledgeable David Tarrant. He always used to say that his favorite flower color was blue, but it wasn’t that easy to find blue in the garden landscape.
Recently, a dear friend and lovely gardener was showing me around her beautiful yard. Amid the colorful display of flowers, my eyes zoomed in on a stunning little plant with breathtaking blue blooms. The tag said “pericallis”; new to me, so time for some homework!
Pericallis is part of the asteraceae and cineraria families, exotic blooms that originated in the Canary Islands. They enjoy full sun or partial shade, and, bonus, cooler temperatures! The plant likes well-drained soil, enhanced with compost. We should water regularly to keep the soil moist, but the plant does not like wet feet.
Growing to a height between twelve and twenty four inches high and a width of about twelve inches, the plant forms a clump of lovely green foliage with blooms that resemble small daisies in lovely, vibrant colors that include blues, pinks, and purples! The plant that I saw had an amazing blue color, with a darker eye, just stunning! It was planted with bright blue lobelia, a great way to further enhance the blue tones! I read that as the season progresses, we could cut the plant back by about 50% for a new wave of blooms (yikes, that’s hard to do, isn’t it!).
I learned that this plant can grow in either a pot or in the garden, and it can be brought indoors in the fall, as long as you have a cool spot with bright or filtered light for it to call home.
This same beautiful garden (and another stunning perennial border belonging to another dear friend that I saw recently) had another plant with dainty blue flowers that I want to tell you about: pulmonaria. This plant, also called lungwort, is a perennial that comes to us from Eastern Europe and Asia. The plant names come from the mottled leaves, which were thought to resemble diseased lungs. In spite of this dubious description, the plant is a beautiful perennial, providing an interesting display in our gardens.
The plant grows to about twelve inches tall, with branches that stretch slightly outwards. The leaves are spotted, or a very unique shade of pale grey-green, sometimes both on the same plant. It likes well-drained soil, and it is listed as preferring shade to partial shade, although I have seen it in two lovely gardens, both sunny, and it seems to be thriving. Propagation is by dividing.
And here’s an interesting little factoid: this spring I heard several gardeners talking about the “boy-girl plant”. Guess what it was? The pulmonaria! That boy-girl name comes from the fact that the blooms begin as pink and turn blue as they mature, and one stem can have both colors at once. Very cool! But it also has other interesting names Soldiers & Sailors, Spotted Dog, and Adam & Eve.
You can learn so much when you go visiting other gardeners! As my Great-Grammie always said, you never stop learning!
Be sure to check out our website at www.yorktonhort.ca to find out what’s happening with the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society. Teachers, find out how you might qualify to get growing with your students and the Junior Gardener program bursaries.
Have a great week!
