Ha! I had to laugh because I recognize myself in that statement.

In my head I call them "purple spires", and I love the way they go with everything. The deeper the purple color, the better. My favorites are:
salvias - may night, blue queen, indigo spires, etc. Can't pass up trying a new one
delphiniums - I grow "magic fountains" because they don't need staking and have a wonderful deep dark color
lupines - wow
giant blue lobelia and violet lobelia
agastache blue fortune
verbena bonariensis - not quite a "spire" but a lovely cloud
gladiolas
penstemons - only have 2 that are hardy to zone 5, I need some new varieties that are larger, like I used to grow in CA
iris, iris, iris! - the tall bearded and the dwarf
campanula persicifolia - great foliage too
veronica - still trying some new varieties
Russian sage
liatris spicata

Any that I'm missing? (for zone 5)
Any specific cultivars you'd recommend? (deeper color and taller spikes?)
Anyone else out there got a love for purple spires?

Here's just a couple photos.

You did not mention Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination', which is a powdery lavendar with pinkish overcasts (but it definitely "reads" in the lavendar not the pink range). No zone 5 garden should be without at least several cultivars of this wonderful native. It blooms for weeks at the peak of "high summer", and has beautiful whorled foliage that give it an architectural form lacking in even most other spiky plants. A must have.

You oughta be cool enough where you are to successfully grow aconitums. The July blooming 'Sparks variety' and the fall blooming A. carmichaelii are 2 to start with. The need cool bright moisture retentive growing conditions, tricky in areas with hot summers (most areas that are warmer than you) since full sun will be too hot and shade won't have enough light. But worth a try...

A little known plant for part shade that excels in beautiful though somewhat airy purple blue spires, and in the fall when they may be hard to come by other than aconitums and delph encores, is Rabdosia longituba. I got mine at a NARGS plant sale for a pittance, just to try, and it has become one of my favorite plants of fall. Tall airy wands of flowers dance above the leaves. It may be a bit more shrub like than strict spires, though the flowering stems are long and semiupright. But it is such a unique plant that I bet you would love it, especially for some shade. Hard to find -- Arrowhead alpines carries it.

There would be many, many salvias beyond what you mentioned that would fir this bill, including many of the tender perennials that are commonly planted as annuals. One hardy one that is a bit harder to find but really worth having is S. azurea grandiflora. Blooms in fall, fully z5 hardy.

You don't mention any veronicas, but there are definitely some taller 3' range plants that will do well for you. I forget the cultivar names, ?'Blue something?. There are also lots of shorter veronicas that have spiky inflorescences.

I am sure I will think of some more.

LOVELY, lovely, inspiring photos. My kind of garden and color scheme -- a rich assortment of plants in the color range you have, and not being afraid to use some of the more intense hues with paler ones. Very effective! And little to no bare earth, I like that.

My favorite perennial blue is lavender 'Munstead.' It's not a long-lived perennial up here in zone 5 (in the Binghamton area I usually get 3 decent years from a plant), but it's well worth growing and replacing every so often.

I also grew culinary sage from seed, it's acting perennial (2 years going strong now), and some of them have pale blue-lavender flowers. It's a lovely accent, with its furry grayish leaves and tiny flowers. Nigella 'Miss Jeckyll Blue' is an annual, but it reseeds freely, so if you plant it once, you'll have it for as long as you want it. It's airy and delicate, with interesting seed pods.

OH, I cannot forget my favorite climber: clematis 'General Sikorski.' It has large, blue-lavender flowers, and is quite vigorous for me even in partial shade.

Clematis 'General Sikorski,' and the flood in June. . . .

I like asters. This one is a seedling of aster 'Bluebird' by an unknown aster:

I also really like my Stokes asters:

Thanks for sharing those pictures!

Laurel

I agree with the rec for Stokes aster - not a spike but definitely worth a place in the garden if you're a blue lover. Klaus Jelitto is my cultivar of choice.

Another good and funky shaped blue is Montana Bluet. Not a spire but a shape similar to Stokes aster, but a more vivid blue with a darker purple center which makes it stand out.

I love your delphiniums. I have not had luck with them despite many attempts. I think my ground is too soggy. Which flower is in front of them in that photo (your third photo)? Is that the campanula, or is it platycoden?

Dee

(not my pic. from wff)

I did think of one more group of plants -- the ironweeds, Vernonia spp. The best known and most readily available is V novaboracensis. There are tall native composites with purple flowers in spires. They are excellent easy care plants as long as the soil is reasonably moist. They bloom from mid-August into October, at a time when blue purples may be harder to come by especially with vertical inflorescences, apart from the aconitums, salvias, and late delphiniums, which have already been mentioned.

One other good tall mid-late summer blooming plant is Campanula pyramidalis. It is quite tall (3-5'), long bloomer, and meets the requireents for blue and spikey as you have asked. Another great campanula which fits loosely in this category is C. lactiflora. Though it looks perhaps a bit more "shrubby" than "spikey" when in bloom, its inflorescenes are definitely vertical. Many of the seed grown selections are a fairly pale blue-lavendar, some even pink, though there is a 'Pritchard's Variety' which is a more saturated lavendar purple. And it would look right at home in the 'cottagey melange' of your garden I bet.

David, I appreciate all your ideas. I googled them and:
* Rabdosia longituba - I've never heard of it and it is so delicate looking. It says zone 6, but I can sometimes get away with that.
* Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination' - a few votes for this, so I will try to locate one
* aconitum - yes! I have avoided them until now because they are highly poisonous, but next year my kids are 4 and 6, old enough to be well past the "mouthing" stage, so this is definitely on the list.
* Salvia azurea grandiflora - will keep my eyes open, it looks like true blue. I try lots of salvia, also have caradonna and love them all.

* vernonia - looks like wild asters. Never heard of them, will look around for some
* campanula pyramidalis - I grew this at a previous residence and loved how tall the spikes were, haven't seen it for sale around here, but will try harder now that I'm reminded of this beauty.
* campanula lactiflora - I have seen this in English magazines all the time, but have never seen it for sale locally. It looks perfect.

* Veronica - I grow "sight seeing mix" and never know when to deadhead because it blooms for so long. Then I wind up with half-pretty, half -ratty blooms. I got "crater lake blue" in a swap last year, but it hasn't bloomed for me yet. I will try "Sunny Border blue" because I have seen that one for sale and here are two votes for it.

* adenophora confusa - it's beautiful, but, . . . I've heard it's very aggressive, so I've avoided it. Anyone know for sure?

Montana bluet, stokes aster, asters, clematis, nigella, lavender - even though not spiky, I have all these and love them, because you can't have too much blue in your garden.

Linnea56 - the flower in the third photo is campanula persicifolia. It has wonderful evergreen foliage and reblooms again in the fall. Very carefree and not aggressive. But I do have *platycodon that I quite like that blooms late in summer.

Thanks for the specific suggestions. I now have some special plants to keep an eye out for when I do my winter catalog shopping.

How about: Baptisia australis, Ajuga groundcover has nice purple spikes albeit very short, Salvia haematodes ‘Indigo’ (tall), Veronica incana, Veronica ‘Goodness Grows’ or ‘Royal Candles’.

Hmmm, must get more veronica, thanks for the specific names. I actually have veronica incana and I love it for the neat silver foliage and long lasting blue spires. Here it is blooming with my peony so you know it is an early bloomer.

Has anyone mentioned verbena bonariensis? Would that qualify?

I have the ladybells, Wendy. Not quite as gorgeous as that WFF photo. They were in my yard when I moved here and not sure if they are just native here or were planted by previous owner. They do self seed a lot. I like them enough not to pull them all though.

I bought a Delphinum in a quart container one year and to our amazement, it grew into a gorgeous flowering plant that year. It was so gorgeous, but I lost it to mildew I believe. I started some from seed last year, but they stayed a small mound all season. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will see some blooms this year. If not, I am going to go back to buying them started, because they were so wonderful that they are worth a little trouble.

:-)
pm2

gottagarden, since you asked -- I had ladybells in my last garden. Thought I could get away with planting them, despite the rumors of their invasiveness, because I was planning to put them in a very inhospitable place:

* inside the drip line of a monster-sized maple tree
* unenriched clay soil
* no water beyond what rainfall provided
* at the edge of our property, where neighborhood children ran wild

And they spread so effusively I started removing them the second season... and continued to weed them out for several seasons afterward. Thank heavens they didn't spread via runners! The bloom is awfully pretty in that photo Wendy linked from White Flower Farms, but my experience was not good At All.

Prairiemoon - I'm not sure which lupine, I think Russell hybrid mixed. I was given them in a garden swap, so I'm not positive. (love those garden swaps!)

My all-time #1 purple spire... hands down, no contest...
has to be Salvia leucantha ("I know, I know, it's an annual
for us. . ."), which I faithfully put in every season as
a seedling (or two, or three). When a plant spends the
entire summer bulking up into a shrub 4-1/2 to 5 foot tall,and then cuts loose in Sept/Oct with those incredible drooping spires of lavendar-purple which actually look and
feel like softest velvet - what's not to like?

Carl

I also like Salvia Uglinosa- Bog Sage and it is one of the hardier varieties with a lighter but still true blue color. Oh- and it's shorter but Rocky Mountain Penstemon is also a pretty blue spiked plant. I also really enjoy the deep blue Veronica 'Georgia Blue' which has almost navy blue flower spikes. My very favorite though and the magnificent delphiniums. Any shade. I can't pick a favorite. I'm thinking of trying the seeds from New Zealand this year as delphinium do really quite well in my climate.

I'm partial to spikes in general. I have to remind myself to plant the other flower head shapes or all I would have are spikes.

Delphiniums are my favorite as well. I've only grown "Magic Fountains" but this year I think I will try some taller ones.

Salvia leucantha - I used to grow these in Cal. I never saw them for sale around here. I should try to find a source and overwinter in the garage because they were one of my favorites as well. Where do you find them? Or do you grow them from seed?

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm using them as I look at my catalogs.

In subsequent years, I have discovered that a number of
your better nurseries (those with variety) will often
have them available in 3" pots in the Spring - but look
for them in the annual section (NOT perennial), and some-times they'll lump them in with herbs.

Here are three mail order sources, ranging from least
expensive to most expensive:

Well-Sweep Herb Farm
Lazy SS Farm
Plant Delights

That first listing, one of my favorites, I visit every
Spring, and the quality has always been excellent for me -
so here's a link.

Carl

Beautiful photos on this thread. I need more blue and I need more spires.

Carl, thank you for that link to Well-Sweep. My boyfriend grew up in Hackettstown, and when I googled Port Murray I noticed Schooleys Mountain Park on the map so it must be very close. We hiked around Schooleys when we visited in the fall... and as we're planning to back to visit again this spring I'm requesting a stop at Well-Sweep. I'd love to see their formal herb garden.

Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination', here just barely opening, with Jacob Cline and another blue spire, a veronica about 30" tall whose name I can't recall

And the same plant, here planted with 2 white spires which are in bloom at the same time, Cimicifuga racemosa and Epilobium angustifolium 'Album'. Who says you can't plant spires with spires with spires??? I am not sure I really planned it this way but I really liked the effect of the blue and white spires swaying in the breezes together.

Another favorite mentioned by Carl and others above, Salvia Leucantha, first the straight species, with white flowers in a velvety purple cup, giving a bicolor effect

An equally good and only slightly smaller selection, S. l. 'Santa Barbara. Makes a spectacular container plant.

In my experience, Salvia leucanthas are among the best tender sages for cold northern gardens because they are relatively frost resistant, and will keep on blooming through the earlier frosts to continue putting on a good show. Others of the fall blooming tender sages sometimes don't have much of a flowering period in the north because they get nailed by freezes too early.

And, if folks are looking for the straight species to
overwinter, as you had suggested in an earlier thread on
salvias, I finally tracked it down at Niche Gardens - but NOT listed in their 2007 print catalogue, only online.....

Carl

Carl

Carl, thanks for the link to well-sweep farm. Although not immediately obvious from their homepage, you can download a pdf version of their catalog and they have Everything! LOTS of salvias, and also veronicastrum fascination. Once again, David's seductive photos made me lust after veronicastrum. Bluestone didn't have "fascination" and their selection was not as airy or purple as David's photo, but well sweep had it. They also had several of the veronicas listed there, so I see a big order to them soon.

Thanks for all the great ideas and sources. I love to plan and plot in the winter.

Also phlomis cashmeriana is unusual looking and has lavender colored blooms. I'm going to link to a photo below, but it appears more pink in the photo. It's halfway down the page.

I also love Rocky Mtn penstemon, Wasatch Penstemon, and Pikes Peak Purple. Oh and Rondo mix, though it comes in pink purple and blue. I guess you'd have to pick it out while it's in bloom at the nursery to get just the blue/purple shades. All three in this photo are Rondo mix.

I see I need to add some veronica and the salvia leucantha by those photos above. I think that adenophora is so pretty too, but I wonder if it could take this climate.

Also I sent you an email offline David3511. I'm dying to know where to find the white epilobium in your photo.

Barb

I have the lilac colored phlomis, it is an interesting vertical note, but with rather coarse leaves.

I have larkspur, but my variety is more of a "cloud" than "spires", so I will look for Blue Imperial Giant.

EPILOBIUM - why have I never heard of this before?? It looks perfect to try even in its purple form, see link below.

I also love most Veronicas, I especially like Goodness Grows, it stays fairly low and spreads well so I use it at the foot of my roses. Penstemon is another favorite although many types don't like our heat and humidity. I love Violet Dusk and it does very well for me.

Purple Majesty

Black and Blue

S. leucantha