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GARDEN BLUES

Sunshine Blue Caryopteris

Deep blue flowers, like a midnight starless sky, add mystery and depth to the garden. A new blue has been discovered in the scabiosa realm. Scabiosa caucasia ‘Ultra Violet’ is the newest scabiosa color at Wayside Gardens.

You can pair the Ultra Violet scabiosa with Thalictrum delayvi ‘Splendide’ if you live in cooler zones (4-7.) Trust the Splendide to send airy sprays of pink flowers above the lower blossoms of the Ultra Violet. If you live where the summers are cold or hot, Baptisia ‘Purple Smoke’ will perform. It will send up spikes of unusual lavender pink flowers washed with blue.

If you are looking for blue for a somewhat shady spot, Malva sylvestris ‘Blue Fountain’ will fill in where the scabiosa fears to grow. (Malva will grow alongside the scabiosa in sun, too.) Blue Fountain is deep, dark blue with purple veins. Try it in shade next to the lilac-pink astilbe ‘Heart & Soul’ with Hosta ‘Mouse Ears’ or the forget-me-not Brunnera macrophylla ‘Looking Glass’ at its feet. Looking Glass has pale blue flowers above silvery foliage.

Petit Blue Caryopteris

Other blues come in shrub form. Caryopteris ‘Deep Blue’ ‘First Choice’ ‘Summer Sorbet’ or ‘Longwood Blue’ have differing shrub forms and foliage color. Any or all would add tight fists of small blue flowers along pathways.

If you long for a lavender walk like those found in old English gardens, but your climate or soil won’t allow it, substitute Longwood Blue caryopteris for the lavender. It makes a good hedge plant. Longwood Blue, growing only two feet tall, has a more open habit than most of the other caryopteris.’ It will give you a blue cloud Lavender Walk look in a mild to hot climate (zones 5-9) where lavender would languish or die.

Memphis’ Beale Street isn’t the only spot to find the Blues. Look to Wayside Gardens to put the blues to work in your garden.

---Posted by Coach Anne, January 4, 2008---

Q & A- Hollyhocks

Hollyhock

QUESTION

I am currently growing Park Seed's hollyhocks. They have been growing large, green, beautiful leaves since spring. I have heard that they dont get the blooms until after 1 year. I have been nurturing the plants and they are doing wonderfully....until recently. The leaves are getting a light brown "spore" overgrowth on the leaves. I think the overgrowth is a fungus of some kind. Can you tell me if this is normal, controllable, or anything?!?! I would hate to see my beautiful plants die at this point. Please help! Zone 9.

ANSWER

It sounds as though your hollyhocks are infected with a rust, which is a fungus. Pick off any leaves with the fungus and gather up all the fallen debris from under the plants. Wet leaves and poor air circulation add to the problem. Make sure to water early in the day so that leaves are dry by nightfall. Perhaps they need thinning/transplanting to get more air movement around each plant.

Be careful not to touch uninfected leaves after you have handled the infected leaves. You can spread the fungus from plant to plant with your hands or gloves.

Check with your local County Extension office to see which fungicide they recommend for your area and temperature range this time of year. To be certain of the "diagnosis," take an infected leaf to the office for an agent or Master Gardener to look at.

COACH’S NEWS

Black Walnut

Walnut trees are notorious killers of plants. Their roots release a toxin called Juglose. Blueberries, azaleas, and tomatoes are some of the plants that will die slowly if planted closer than eight feet outside the walnuts spread.

At this University of Illinois Extension, you can find lists of flowers that seem to tolerate the Walnut’s poison: http://www.solutions.uiuc.edu/directory.cfm?series=4&cat=109&Parents=0|103

Some resistant annuals include begonias (fibrous rooted), calendulas and pansies. Daylilies, hostas and some wildflowers, like bloodroot, are on the perennials list resistant to the Juglose.

The site also suggests that walnut sawdust or wood chips should not be used as mulch. It will have the same killing effect on susceptible plants.

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