Blue Flower Displays

Discussion in 'Container Gardening' started by Jack Sparrow, Feb 25, 2018.

  1. Jack Sparrow

    Jack Sparrow Total Gardener

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    • Verdun

      Verdun Passionate gardener

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      Not read it but I love Blue flowers. The list I grow is pretty long....from agastaches and anchusas through to varieties of verbena and viola :)
       
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      • Jack Sparrow

        Jack Sparrow Total Gardener

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        I have read some more about potting hibiscus. Does anybody have any xperiences or tips they would be willing to share? As with all my gardening projects, I’m just fishing for ideas at this point. Thanks.

        G.
         
      • Irmemac

        Irmemac Total Gardener

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        Thank you @Jack Sparrow for posting that link. Last autumn I painted the back wall of the house and the patio wall a lovely sort of stone colour, and was thinking about making the planting either based round blue pots as an accent or blue flowers. All of the pictures are stunning and there is plenty of food for thought. I am particularly interested in the hydrangea in a large pot, but not sure how well that would work up here.
         
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        • Jack Sparrow

          Jack Sparrow Total Gardener

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          • KFF

            KFF Total Gardener

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            Blue iss my favourite flower colour , however there's no mention of the three true blue flowers on there Lithospermum, Myosotis, and Meconopsis.

            Most blues ( eg Delphinium ) come from the purple end of the spectrum not the blue end hence you can get some rather muddy shades called " bkue ".
             
          • Clare G

            Clare G Super Gardener

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            I love blue flowers too. Saw an absolutely stunning display on Friday of iris reticulata, mostly blue but with a few purple ones too - a great patch of them blooming away in the walled garden of Golders Hill Park, next to Hampstead Heath. I definitely want to try some here now and am only sorry now I didn't get a photo of them to show you all too! Well worth checking out should you be in the area, the pergola garden nearby is lovely too:Golders Hill Park - City of London
             
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            • Mark56

              Mark56 Super Gardener

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              Lithodora, delphinium blue bird & summer skies, penstemon electric blue (although the tips are multi coloured), pulmonaria blue ensign
               
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              • Verdun

                Verdun Passionate gardener

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                True blues .....salvia patens......check out the wonderful pale blue of Cambridge....., salvia cacalifolia, gentians, brunneras like Hadspen Cream which has lovely true blue flowers, many delphiniums, linum perenne, ceratostigma griffithii for dark blue, and for large parts of Cornwall where the soil is acid, the bluest of hydrangeas.
                 
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                • longk

                  longk Total Gardener

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                  I must admit that having looked at the article most of them were more purple or lilac than true blue. Their first choice was Morning Glory 'Heavenly Blue' but the photo was of the boggo standard Ipomea purpurea!

                  Hibiscus syriacus is perfectly hardy here in the UK, no need to grow it in pots. If it needs to be frown in a pot it will need regular potting on so use pots that allow it to be removed easily. Just lumping it into a large pot doesn't work as nutrients wash out of the medium before the roots get to make use of them.
                   
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                  • Jack Sparrow

                    Jack Sparrow Total Gardener

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                  • Verdun

                    Verdun Passionate gardener

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                    Not keen on these multi coloured shrubs.......they look better in the magazines than they do physically :)
                    If you like hibiscus S. I would go for a named variety and selected colour
                    Agree hibiscus should really be grown in the ground......large woody roots and, when established, large shrubs. Grown in pots they will struggle I think....there are better subjects for pots
                     
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                    • Mark56

                      Mark56 Super Gardener

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                      Agree, an open sunny site where they can spread themselves, they do get pretty large & can be somewhat fussy about flowering otherwise
                       
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                      • longk

                        longk Total Gardener

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                        I'm with Verdun on this. Plus trying to keep them as a standard will be a drag.
                         
                      • NigelJ

                        NigelJ Total Gardener

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                        I grew Hibiscus syriacus in Essex, had a white and one called "Blue Bird" with pastel blue flowers. They coped with some pretty bad winters, always late into leaf sometime in May and lost their leaves early, September. Always flowered well, I've had less success with them down here in Devon.
                         
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