Fundamental Facts
HARDINESS: Zones 5 to 8
PREFERRED SOIL pH: Slightly acid
PREFERRED SOIL TYPE: Average
PREFERRED LIGHT: Sun to partial shade
ATTRIBUTES: Blue flowers that attract butterflies, gray-green foliage; for beds, hedges
SEASON OF INTEREST: Early summer to fall
FAVORITES: 'Arthur Simmonds', 'Dark Knight', 'Heavenly Blue', 'Worcester Gold'
QUIRKS: Grows like a hardy perennial where winters are cold
GOOD NEIGHBORS: Aster, chrysanthemum, daylily, purple cone-flower, rose, rudbeckia
WHERE IT GROWS BEST: Sun in any average garden soil
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS: Root rot where drainage is poor
PRUNING: Prune in early spring; in mild climates, prune again in midsummer
CRITTER RESISTANCE: Excellent
SOURCE: Nursery plants
DIMENSIONS: 2-3 ft (0.6-1 m) tall and equally wide
Bluebeard in the Landscape
When summer sets in and the color rush of late spring begins to fade, bluebeard fills the void and complements neighbors with abundant, dependable blue blossoms that appear until fall. A light and airy-looking 3 ft (1 m) tall shrub with small, pointed, gray-green leaves lined by clusters of flowers, bluebeard more resembles a bushy perennial than a shrub. Silhouette bluebeard against a weathered wooden barn or fence, let it spread beside a rock outcrop, or plant it in long rows backed by dark green conifers. Or put bluebeard's soft color and texture to work neutralizing brighter bloomers in a mixed bed.
Even before bluebeard begins its midsummer blossoming, the white-backed leaves add a silvery effect to the garden and are dense enough for bluebeard to be used as a formal hedge or path edging. And, should you brush against bluebeard on a warm, sunny day, a pleasant herbal fragrance, reminiscent of sage, will be your reward.
Luring Butterflies
Beyond being beautiful and dependable, bluebeard also attracts bees and butterflies. Its blue blossoms are among the most powerful butterfly magnets in the garden. Place bluebeard within easy view of seating areas, where you can spend summer afternoons watching butterflies romancing the blossoms.
Choosing the Blues
Different cultivars boast a variety of blue hues, so you can choose cultivars with a favorite color or mix different shades. Most cultivars have flowers that are a medium shade of blue, such as those of 'Arthur Simmonds', which ranks among the best performers. In fact, 'Arthur Simmonds' is often the plant you get when nursery plants are simply labeled "caryopteris" or "bluebeard." If dark blue-purple flowers are your goal, 'Dark Knight' or 'Kew Blue' can provide them. With golden rather than gray-green foliage contrasting against the blossoms, 'Worcester Gold' presents a very different picture. And if you want a dwarf growth habit, opt for 2 ft (0.6 m) tall 'Heavenly Blue', whose flowers are a bright blue.
These cultivars are all derived from a hybrid between Caryopteris incana and C. mongolica. One parent, C. incana, is definitely garden worthy in Zones 7 or warmer. It is slightly taller and less refined in habit than the hybrids, but its large dark blue flowers are worth finding a place for in the border.
Growing Bluebeard
This is one of the easiest shrubs to grow in a sunny location with well-drained soil. Pests ignore it, but chronically wet soil can cause root rot. A willing transplanter, bluebeard shows new growth a few weeks after planting, if you add a sparse handful of a balanced fertilizer, and occasionally irrigate. Leave the brown flower bracts intact for winter interest, then prune plants back hard first thing in the spring so that only a few inches of woody stem remain above ground to initiate new growth. Bluebeard flowers on new wood, so spring pruning encourages flower and foliage density as well as removing any frost injury. During a long growing season, light pruning in midsummer stimulates a second flush of flowers.
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