More Blue Blooms for June
For some reason June is a very blue/purple month. Just recently I wrote about two blue June flowers, Wild Blue Indigo (Baptisia australis) and Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis). But it seems these days that practically the only colors to be seen in the whole front garden are on the blue-purple spectrum (the back, with mostly white flowers, is a different story).
First of all, there are the hardy Geraniums, like G. ‘Johnson’s Blue’ on this corner of the Driveway Border.
I planted three ‘Johnson’s Blue’ Geraniums in this spot thirteen years ago, and one of those three is still chugging along. The others have faded away, though
So I’ve been switching from ‘Johnson’s Blue’ to ‘Rozanne’. ‘Rozanne’ blooms longer and sprawls farther than ‘Johnson’s Blue’, which blooms more briefly but also more prolifically. ‘Rozanne’ also has a habit of climbing up through its taller neighbors, a quality I appreciate. I used ‘Rozanne’ to replace a little patch of Scabiosa columbaria ‘Butterfly Blue’ on the Left Bank Bed. The Scabiosa failed to live through the winter.
This is the first year that one of our Clematis viticella ‘Betty Corning’ is blooming abundantly. Actually, we have three, one in the Sidewalk Border and two in the Driveway Border, including the one above. I’m hoping the other two soon catch up with this one.
I really like these small, dangling, bell-shaped flowers. Of course, you need a mass of them to make an impact. I hope they are still going strong when their brightly colored neighbors (such as the Mexican Sunflowers, Joe Pye Weed, and Yellow Coneflowers) start to bloom.
Have I already mentioned the ‘Six Hills Giant’ Catmint (Nepeta faassenii ‘Six Hills GIant’) this year? Well, it’s still blooming it’s heart out, though I think soon I should cut it back, which is supposed to bring on new flowers.
Salvia sylvestris ‘Caradonna’ and ‘May Night’ are also getting to the point where they will need to be cut back, but in the meantime they have been making a solid contribution to the month’s blue-purple color theme.
And Clematis ‘Blue Ice’ also got into the act with a second flush of palest blue blooms.
Does your garden tend to bloom blue in June?
gardeninacity 
Not really. I have some blue but I have yellow, peach, and red to go with my blues and purples. That scabiosa doesn’t do well in my neighborhood either. I have had it a few times. Such a charming bloom but I have to treat it as an annual.
Sad but true about the Scabiosa.
Ohh my god…I really luv this post😀
Not all that blue here either and I can’t explain why. Maybe I need to finally add ‘Roxanne’ since it comes with nothing but good reviews, but the one I bought years ago died and I kind of hold that against it.
I do have the salvia and nepeta, both are carrying on as usual and in another few weeks the perovskia will jump in.
My first efforts with ‘Rosanne’ were not successful either but then it began to perform well for me after fizzling a couple of times.
I have lots of blue right now. Rozanne is also a favorite here. Tradescantia is doing well here, and I have also one in a light purple, and in pink. I really like your Betty Corning and your catmint.
I love both of those Clematis, especially the viticella one. I don’t have much blue right now, apart from the lavender. The Perovskia will be next. 🙂
The first flush of blue salvias are fading, and so are the blooms on lamium, but they will be back. Front is mostly blue until the red astilbe and later blooming red sedums kick in.
Clematis Roguchi is going strong here — reminds me of your Betty Corning. I spotted a hummingbird visiting it from my kitchen window yesterday morning!
That’s cool. I wonder if the hummingbirds feed on ‘Betty Corning’ – I’ve never seen that.
I’ve got to try Betty Corning. It’s lovely and has been haunting me for years.
I was determined to plant it after seeing it growing in a Toronto garden.
I’ve had Nepeta “Six Hills Giant” for years. It is my go-to plant for difficult places. Always reliable. Your past recommendation of Caradonna salvia encouraged me to include it and it has been a success. I have the Brookside geranium, also a sprawler, but beautiful blue. Love those clematis “bells”.
Glad those two have worked for you. I’ve heard ‘Brookside’ is a good performer, but haven’t tried it yet.
Not much blue in my garden, mostly red and yellow. Still, this does brighten up our shady yard. I do have irises, which are purple, and a new white one. Still, I love your blues.
A few blue Geraniums but my garden is about to turn orange and yellow with lilies.
I’m waiting for that turn to the hot colors as well – but I think it is still a couple of weeks off.
Love the blues and purples! I added two “blues” to the garden this year: Baptisia australis and Lobelia siphilitica. They’re still little, but should bloom next summer. Gorgeous photos of your blues and purples!
I haven’t been successful with L. siphilitica, I don’t know why. It’s supposed to be easier than L. cardinalis.
What a lovely selection of blue flowers. S. ‘Caradonna’ really glows with purple intensity doesn’t it? I must get some G. ‘Rozanne’. They were highly recommended by Fergus Garrett (Great Dixter) at a talk he gave for all the reasons you give too.
‘Rozanne’ is a great performer, and ‘Caradonna’ is a really fine purple – and it doesn’t flop.
I wish it did Jason, I wish it did! Your ground must be holding so much water for these plants to be flourishing like this.
Except for a stretch in early June, it’s been a fairly wet season.
Since blue is my favorite color this post was perfect!
I think orange is my favorite, but blue comes a close second.
Wow, you do have the blues!!! I do have some blues blooming such as Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’, Salvia farinacea ‘Victoria Blue’, Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’ and another blue sage I can’t remember off-hand. I also have a lot of white going on in the crinums & lilies. Blue wins hands down over the white. I want some ‘Six Hills Giant’ catmint. Yours looks so spectacular.
I have ‘Walker’s Low’ and ‘Blue Fortune’. I highly recommend ‘Six Hills Giant.’
I LOVE purple so it is all good by me:-) Your plants look stunning!!! May night one of my favorites, hmmm, I have it all over my yard. I see it as an exclamation point in my garden beds:-)LOL
‘May Night’ is certainly a beauty.
it sure is!!!
I love blue too and have a lot of it, mostly campanulas, delphiniums and geraniums.
I love Campanulas and Delphiniums, but they don’t grow well for me. C. persicifolia looks good for about two years and then goes into decline. They are beautiful, though.
I’m a huge fan of blue flowers so always enjoy yours. Love your bell shaped clematis….how lovely.xxx
Such pretty blue flowers! I really like those geraniums. I keep meaning to add blue flowers to my garden, but keep getting drawn to yellow, pink and orange flowers. Thank you for sharing!
I’m a big fan of orange and have lots of yellow, but the blue provides some balance.
PS I left a comment on your blog but I think it ended up in the spam folder.
Hmmm, weird. I’ve gotten notifications for all your likes. You can always try to comment again and see if it will go through. Thanks though!