Cool Summer Colors Brighten
Landscapes During Hot Times
Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas Cooperative Extension.
If you are looking for an easy way to get the summertime blues, I have some suggestions.
The color blue in your garden can provide some soothing mental relief during our long, hot summer days. Colors such as red, yellow and orange are called warm colors, and psychologically make you think of warmth (or in Texas, oven-like heat).
Now, I don't have a problem with adding these bright and cheerful colors to a flower bed, but I also like to incorporate cooler colors in my summer garden.
Blues, greens and neutral colors like gray invoke a calming, soothing response in people. They are also designated as cool colors. There is plenty of green in our gardens, so what are some sources of blue flowering plants?
The color blue in your garden can provide some soothing mental relief during our long, hot summer days. Colors such as red, yellow and orange are called warm colors, and psychologically make you think of warmth (or in Texas, oven-like heat).
Now, I don't have a problem with adding these bright and cheerful colors to a flower bed, but I also like to incorporate cooler colors in my summer garden.
Blues, greens and neutral colors like gray invoke a calming, soothing response in people. They are also designated as cool colors. There is plenty of green in our gardens, so what are some sources of blue flowering plants?
(Courtesy Photo/Keith Hansen)
FLUTTERING VISITOR: By planting the proper colors, gardeners can attract butterflies and hummingbirds to their landscape.
Some of the best, toughest garden perennials can be found in a large group of plants called salvias. There are so many species that a whole book has been written on them (The New Book of Salvias by Betsy Clebsch), listing about150 garden-worthy species and hybrids.
The word salvia comes from Latin, meaning "to heal," and the sages, as they are also commonly called, have long been used as herbs in foods and medicinally.
While there are so many great garden salvias, many with bright red flowers, I want to focus on a few of the blue flowering varieties that can provide this important color to your summer garden.
I have long admired the Mealy sage (Salvia farinacea), a native to south central Texas. Even the wild form has strong virtues for the garden. It is a sun-loving, heat-loving, long-lived, drought-tolerant perennial that blooms non-stop from spring right through to the first hard freeze. "Victoria Blue'' is a common cultivar, selected for its shorter stature as a bedding plant. But that selection doesn't have the vigor of its wild parentage.
Enter "Henry Duelburg,'' Found in a central Texas cemetery by Greg Grant, Duelburg sage is vigorous, with darker blue flowers and larger, greener foliage. It produces masses of flowers constantly, and is not preferred by deer, a plus for those challenged with those 4-legged pruners. It recently was designated as a Texas Superstar.
Don't pamper Mealy sage. Give it full sun, medium soil, and just enough water to keep it from wilting during dry spells. The plants can get a little leggy, especially in less than full-sun locations, and benefit from an occasional shearing.
Don't be shy about this, worrying about cutting off pretty blue flowers. The plant will quickly respond with more compact growth and many more flowers in a short time.
VIGOROUS, HARDY SALVIA
Salvia "Indigo Spires'' is a sterile hybrid sage originally found in the Huntington Botanical Garden in southern California. This vigorous, hardy salvia belongs in the back of the flower bed or perennial border, as it can easily grow 4 to 6 feet before sprawling over with the weight of its flowers and foliage.
"Indigo Spires'' is a cold-hardy perennial, and begins blooming in early May, not long after coming out of winter dormancy. Large, dark, gray-green foliage serve as a backdrop to non-stop long inflorescences bearing dark blue flowers. Because it is sterile, the inflorescences continue to grow and bloom without setting seed.
"Indigo Spires'' benefits from occasional shearing to keep it more compact, bouncing back quickly with more growth and blooms. It is an ideal plant for a larger flower bed. Plant this large perennial where it can have some room to grow and sprawl without choking out smaller neighboring plants.
For those of you with smaller flower beds, a new introduction has arrived that has all the great qualities of "Indigo Spires'' on a compact, hardy plant.
"Mystic Spires Blue'' was introduced a few years ago, and has already won many accolades and awards across the country, including the North Texas Winner's Circle designation by horticulturists in Dallas and Overton.
"Mystic Spires'' has the same long, dark blue flower spikes and large, attractive leaves, only on a compact plant that reaches only about three feet tall and wide. Now you can bring your blues closer to the front of the flower border.
Another sage bearing blue flowers is Salvia guaranitica, commonly called Anise Sage. These begin blooming a little later than the previous entries, starting about midsummer, and going up to first frost.
There are several selections of this plant, bearing intensely blue flowers against lighter green foliage. One particularly striking cultivar is called "Black and Blue'' because the calyx from which each flowers emerges is black instead of blue.
"Argentine Skies'' differs from the common form because its flowers are sky blue rather than intense dark blue. Anise sages need full to partial sun, and will spread through underground runners to make a small colony over time, a trait to be aware of, but not to deter you from growing them in your garden.
Oh, and did I mention that all of these salvias are magnets for hummingbirds and butterflies of all kinds? No need for a hummingbird feeder if you have a couple of these growing in your garden.
All of these salvias are growing in the IDEA Garden in the southeast corner of the Tyler Rose Garden. You can miss them - just look for the summertime blues.
The word salvia comes from Latin, meaning "to heal," and the sages, as they are also commonly called, have long been used as herbs in foods and medicinally.
While there are so many great garden salvias, many with bright red flowers, I want to focus on a few of the blue flowering varieties that can provide this important color to your summer garden.
I have long admired the Mealy sage (Salvia farinacea), a native to south central Texas. Even the wild form has strong virtues for the garden. It is a sun-loving, heat-loving, long-lived, drought-tolerant perennial that blooms non-stop from spring right through to the first hard freeze. "Victoria Blue'' is a common cultivar, selected for its shorter stature as a bedding plant. But that selection doesn't have the vigor of its wild parentage.
Enter "Henry Duelburg,'' Found in a central Texas cemetery by Greg Grant, Duelburg sage is vigorous, with darker blue flowers and larger, greener foliage. It produces masses of flowers constantly, and is not preferred by deer, a plus for those challenged with those 4-legged pruners. It recently was designated as a Texas Superstar.
Don't pamper Mealy sage. Give it full sun, medium soil, and just enough water to keep it from wilting during dry spells. The plants can get a little leggy, especially in less than full-sun locations, and benefit from an occasional shearing.
Don't be shy about this, worrying about cutting off pretty blue flowers. The plant will quickly respond with more compact growth and many more flowers in a short time.
VIGOROUS, HARDY SALVIA
Salvia "Indigo Spires'' is a sterile hybrid sage originally found in the Huntington Botanical Garden in southern California. This vigorous, hardy salvia belongs in the back of the flower bed or perennial border, as it can easily grow 4 to 6 feet before sprawling over with the weight of its flowers and foliage.
"Indigo Spires'' is a cold-hardy perennial, and begins blooming in early May, not long after coming out of winter dormancy. Large, dark, gray-green foliage serve as a backdrop to non-stop long inflorescences bearing dark blue flowers. Because it is sterile, the inflorescences continue to grow and bloom without setting seed.
"Indigo Spires'' benefits from occasional shearing to keep it more compact, bouncing back quickly with more growth and blooms. It is an ideal plant for a larger flower bed. Plant this large perennial where it can have some room to grow and sprawl without choking out smaller neighboring plants.
For those of you with smaller flower beds, a new introduction has arrived that has all the great qualities of "Indigo Spires'' on a compact, hardy plant.
"Mystic Spires Blue'' was introduced a few years ago, and has already won many accolades and awards across the country, including the North Texas Winner's Circle designation by horticulturists in Dallas and Overton.
"Mystic Spires'' has the same long, dark blue flower spikes and large, attractive leaves, only on a compact plant that reaches only about three feet tall and wide. Now you can bring your blues closer to the front of the flower border.
Another sage bearing blue flowers is Salvia guaranitica, commonly called Anise Sage. These begin blooming a little later than the previous entries, starting about midsummer, and going up to first frost.
There are several selections of this plant, bearing intensely blue flowers against lighter green foliage. One particularly striking cultivar is called "Black and Blue'' because the calyx from which each flowers emerges is black instead of blue.
"Argentine Skies'' differs from the common form because its flowers are sky blue rather than intense dark blue. Anise sages need full to partial sun, and will spread through underground runners to make a small colony over time, a trait to be aware of, but not to deter you from growing them in your garden.
Oh, and did I mention that all of these salvias are magnets for hummingbirds and butterflies of all kinds? No need for a hummingbird feeder if you have a couple of these growing in your garden.
All of these salvias are growing in the IDEA Garden in the southeast corner of the Tyler Rose Garden. You can miss them - just look for the summertime blues.
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