Color Garden: The Blues

Chickadee Gardens is a reflection of me. That may be translated to mean that it's a bit on the neurotic side, i.e., yellow plants go there and blue plants go here. I have groupings of blue plants where they are supposed to go, in the blue garden, of course, and no where else. Joking aside, my blue garden is a very small hell strip garden that has given me much of grief over the years. Now, it is finally starting to fill in, take hold, and bring me joy. Let's have a look at this tiny strip of dirt between the sidewalk and street known as the hell strip blue garden.

Today's blue garden, bringing spiky, blue-ish joy.

Here it is, a few seasons after I removed everything that was here when I moved in. A few incarnations later, this selection of plants is beginning to take hold. This is no bed for sissies; it's a brutal east-wind facing, car-exhaust consuming, dog-pee infested little strip of clay. I have lost probably two Arctostaphylos and one Ceanothus 'Dark Star' (boo hoo!) and countless other goodies. But the beat goes on and here are the survivors.

Before we delve too deeply into dissecting the blue garden plant population, let's look briefly at the before photos from last year and maybe two years back.

This is late winter probably two, perhaps three years ago with a doomed Pieris that I gave to a neighbor and some other odds and ends. It isn't pretty.

This is early last summer. The lush, lovely Sedum oreganum in the foreground is long gone thanks to some over zealous pigeons on a never-ending quest for ground bugs. Thanks, piges--you guys are on my hit list. The now-gone Ceanothus can be seen at the back of the bed in this photo, as can the doomed Arctostaphylos in the middle of the bed. Also, in the middle is the super hardy Philadelphus lewisii, our native mock orange, still going strong. The blue fescue here is gone, replaced with a much better cultivar 'Beyond Blue'. I had a few native pentsemons that did well for several years but fizzled out as penstemons do.

Let's break it down into some of the players. Here's a favorite that replaced the Ceanothus 'Dark Star', and I love this plant. It's a Callistemon viridiflorus from Xera Plants.

It has white bark, spiky leaves and bottlebrush blossoms. It bloomed just this week for its first time and I love it. Be damned that it's not blue, I am giving up my rigid color confining ways. Maybe a little.

I am mad about sea hollies or Eryngium spp. This one is Eryngium bourgatii also from Xera Plants. This is the first year for it to bloom also.

From ghostly white to electric blue, it's gorgeous.

This sweet little flower is Sisyrinchium angustifolium our native blue-eyed grass. It happily seeds about and is easy to pull out if it becomes too abundant. I allow it to settle where it will.

Like here. I don't remember where I actually planted this originally but it's all around now.

Here's my happy Eryngium agavifolium. It has been swallowed up by other plants this year but it will soon send up a submarine periscope flower stock so I will be able to locate it.

So I asked Greg at Xera what the toughest (at the right size) Arcto is, because I have to have one for this blue garden, and he said this one, the Arctostaphylos x densiflora 'Harmony'.

So far so good, it has taken hold and grown like mad since last year. It survived the winter and has not dropped many leaves and likes the gravel mulch. I think this one will stick. Thanks, Greg!

Another sea holly, Eryngium 'Sapphire Blue'.

Just beginning to turn electric, and I do mean electric blue. It's a stunner.

Penstemon heterophyllus 'Electric Blue', also from Xera Plants. This should be renamed the Xera Plants Hell Strip.

Wowswers, how about that color? The Arctostaphylos can be seen in the background here.

I found these yucca at a big box store last year mislabeled as Yucca filamentosa. I think we've determined they are Yucca gloriosa 'Variegata'. I have three in this hell strip and they are all doing quite well. Blue fescue 'Beyond Blue' on the right. A very good cultivar in my book.

The grass is Carex comans 'Green', yes, from Xera.

The large-leaved plant is another sea holly, Eryngium giganteum or Miss Willmott's Ghost. Edelweiss in the foreground.

Detail of edelweiss.

Sedum, yucca, blue-eyed grass and seedlings.

Carex comans 'Green', Miss Willmott's Ghost, edelweiss, yucca, penstemon, what's not to love? It all does really well with virtually zero supplemental water, I might add. This is the xeriscaped hell strip. The soil is basically clay amended with organic compost and gravel.

Self-sown foxglove, Arctostaphylos x densiflora 'Harmony', Philadelphus lewisii.

Sedum 'Carl' and blue fescue 'Beyond Blue' again.

This is about the extent of the garden, quite small. There is a bit more out of frame, but not much.

Salvia purpurea is doing well this year. It's a hit or miss plant around here.

Here's the other half as seen looking north. Eryngium 'Electric Blue on the left corner, native asters have taken over the right corner. I have to really keep them in check and, yes, they self-sow everywhere in cracks nearby but I don't mind.

Pigeon's eye view looking south.

 There is the blue garden! Small, but coming along. Admittedly, there are purples, silvers and even pinks as in the thyme in this photo, but the main colors are blue-ish. I am trying to loosen up my confining color ways a bit, but I do insist on some color harmony.

There are a few other "color gardens" we'll visit at Chickadee Gardens this season: The orange garden, the white shade garden, the purple and pink hot garden, and the other hell strip garden in pink. We saw the yellow garden last May but may revisit again this year. There's also the chocolate garden, we must not forget that.

It's fun to garden like this and, in all honesty, I am not that uptight about color - rather, I am fussy about color harmony and making the whole thing feel balanced.

That's it for this week at Chickadee Gardens. Thank you so much for reading and until next time, happy gardening. I do hope you're having great spring weather wherever you are and no floods, no cold weather, rather - just good ol' sunshine and spring breezes.