Family Plumbaginaceae.
Originating from China.
- Soft, profuse mounds of cobalt-blue flowers appear in late summer.
- Semi-evergreen foliage is rich green and turns red in autumn.
- Easy to grow and adaptable, it has a neat, bushy habit.
The Hardy Plumbago Forest Blue in Your Garden
Cool yet intense blue flowers smother undulating, rich green mounds of foliage when few other plants are blooming. This welcome, bold flourish creates a high-impact display at the lower levels of planting schemes. Conspicuous from afar, close-up viewing reveals a big personality, with much detail and intricate colouration.
Ceratostigma willmottianum Forest Blue is hardy in southern and coastal UK gardens. This compact variety grows to around 60–90cm tall and wide, making it ideal for pot planting. On Suffolk’s sunny patios, gardeners can appreciate its burgundy stems, leaf margins, and bracts up close. In Norfolk’s woodland gardens or mixed borders, it forms a soft-textured ground cover when planted in groups or at intervals.
Thriving in exposed coastal gardens, it is fairly drought-tolerant and attracts pollinators, offering them an important late-season food source. After flowering, its spiky, ball-shaped seed heads remain, adding interest as the foliage turns brilliant red for winter.
Did you know?
Chinese Plumago flowers are used in Bach Flower Remedies (the most famous of which is Rescue Remedy for stressful situations). Ceratostigma is used to combat self-doubt or self-mistrust, according to Dr Bach.
Growing Tips for Your Late Summer Blue Flowering Shrub, Ceratostigma willmottianum Forest Blue
- Soil and sun: plant in full sun or part shade in any free-draining soil. Full sun is best for the most profuse flowering.
- Planting: from early spring to early autumn. Never plant a dry plant! Plunge for 10 minutes to drench the root ball before planting. Do not add soil improvers.
- Watering: Moderate; tolerates drought once established. Water regularly during its first summer while it is rooting out.
- Pruning: Cut back hard in late winter or early spring to maintain shape and encourage new growth.
It was discovered in 1908 in the semi-arid, rocky slopes of the Min River valley in western Sichuan. The legendary plant hunter Ernest Henry Wilson returned seeds from that expedition to the wealthy English horticulturist Ellen Willmott. The two seedlings raised from that collection are the source of plants available for your garden today. Providing a drought-tolerant, pollinator-friendly late summer flowering blue shrub.
