Oh no, Eupatorium coelestinum isn't really blue? And I just started it from seed...

I agree with you Ken, I HATE it when companies/tags claim that the flower is blue, but turns out to be purple. So if purple is really blue, what is purple considered?! Mauve? Lol.

Like "Blue" monkshood, Asters, petunias, various cultivars of Perennial Geraniums, salvia, etc. Can't tell you how many times I have been let down and gotten a pseudo-blue.
CMK

Campanula Blue Clips! More lavender.

My bluebeard shrub isn't really blue, but I love it anyway.

My high school botany teacher said there weren't any blue flowers and I believed him, so I never fall for it when the new catalogs arrive with their retouched photos, but I still use those bluish purples to cool down the palette in my garden.

What I fall for time and again is "orange" roses that invariably grow peach or coral-colored for me.

hey leaf

i think your old teach may have been exaggerating..

there are plenty of blue flowers... many of the delphinium come to mind ...

maybe a new post ...

ken

I remember reading about a peony that was selling at Walmart and on eBay called 'Blue Lagoon' and the image portrayed it as a blue peony. Auctions were bidding up to $60 or $70 for a single root. Not only was it not a registered Peony cultivar, but when it finally bloomed it had single pink flowers!

These poor unsuspecting buyers of "blue" flowers were ripped off for real. And how do you leave feedback for an eBay seller when it takes 2 years for a plant to bloom?

Personally, blue is one of my least favorite colors in a flower, but I'm trying to warm up to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Picture of Blue lagoon peony (GW thread)

Penstemon heterophyllus 'True Blue' isn't true blue. Neither is Geranium 'Johnson's Blue' or any other hardy geranium I've seen, or Clematis for that matter. Salvia 'Blue Hill.'

There are some pure blues, though, so I disagree with the botany teacher. Plumbago, gentians, Meconopsis, Brunnera and certain hydrangeas and Salvias are a start.

Oh, sure, Ken, like I could grow delphiniums!

Yep, I've got some of those blue peonies from Walmart. Luckily, I just paid walmart prices - lol
Pam

I have a butterfly blue delphinium that has surprised me by returning this spring after being planted two summers ago. Spectacular performer with stunning blue flowers.

I will be trying out Gentian True Blue this year.

Blue Larkspur,Blue Corn Flower and LadyBells,Virginia Blue bells.I love all of these.

oooops wrong thread.To me these are all
true blues.

The one that immediately comes to mind (or partially to mind) is the aster relative that Thompson & Morgan has been aggressively marketing in recent years, which is supposed to be a true blue (and appears as a lurid, obviously retouched light blue in the catalog), but which actually is a washed-out lavender that blooms for a very brief period on weakly-growing specimens that are done after one season.

Aside from that, fabulous plant.

I try not to think about the imitators and fakers, especially now when a terrific true blue ({{gwi:204342}}) is flowering like crazy in several of my borders.

Blue is in the eye of the beholder... not all individuals, and not all cultures, perceive colors the same way.

And growing conditions can change the shades of some flowers, making them appear more or less blue.

Though I personally like the bluish purples and the purplish blues, so they are never a "ripoff" to me.

That brunnera eric_oh is gorgeous! I have to get one of those.The only true blue I had was a delph, and lost it. I have johnsons blue geranium that is definitly not blue to me. Going to try some blue petunias this yr.
tammy

Truth in advertising! Everyone (I guess) likes lavenders, lilacs, and purples too, but when you are looking for blue, it is truly aggravating to end up with purple. I've fallen for it too many times to count.

True about growing conditions and climate influencing the blueness. Rozanne geranium is blue for me in the spring, but in our intense summer heat, it's a very pink mauve. Come fall, it's blue again.

Truest blues (by my perception) for me:
Cynoglossum firmament; Bluebird Forget me Not; Salvia farinacea, Rhea; Salvia, Mystic Spires, Balloon Flowers (platycodon), Amsonia taberaemontana, Peachie's Pick Stokesia

Most plants are not blue by nature--although a few are. Most however have been bred to be blue. Of those bred to be blue most have a mauve cast to them. For instance--sorry to tell you this tammy--no matter the ads you will never get a true blue Petunia. As an artist I can tell you that blue is a primary color. You can't get true blue from mixing colors together and that's what they do to breed new flower colors.

Then you run into soil--look how hydrengias change color with the PH of the soil.

If you want true blue look to the original natural color of the plant.

Personally I have never understood the wish for blue plants. I enjoy all the colors and to me nothing looks better than a whole bunch of colors and shades mixed together

now.. there is that few moments at dusk .. when the sky turns pink.. and many things change color... perhaps some of these actually look blue at that moment in time.. perhaps an ethereal blue...

or they dont .. lol ...

ken

Siberian blue dianthus - actually lavender!

What I have that IS actually blue-

delphiniums
forget me nots
Royal Candles veronica
Blue Hill salvia - violet blue
Blue Paradise phlox - purple during the day; blue in the evening - don't ask me how
Trevi Fountain pulmonaria
Stairway to Heaven polemonium

Deanna

Interesting, my Rozanne is never blue. It is always some shade of purple, different shades in spring and summer.

My Salvia Blue Hill is pretty blue; I like it a lot.

Leafy, I grow delphs just as an annual, no variety will oversummer here. Only $9 at Kroger.

Zwanenburg blue tradescantia, or spiderwort. I tried to believe the description of "true blue" and cobalt blue, but it was purple as purple can be.

I have some kind of similar plant that was an extra in a gift plant, with a peacock blue flower. The plant is a bit invasive even here in NH. The little 3-petaled flower is tiny, probably Commelina Tuberosa. Pretty sure this is the plant I remember seeing growing wild in Maryland where I grew up.

Ken: I have annual ageratum "Leilani" growing on my patio as I type, and it is indeed true blue. Were you referring to perennial ageratum (oh what the heck is the Latin name, I can't remember)

Perennial true blues I have: Brunnera, plumbago.

I tend to agree with the above poster re: sensory interpretation of color. Some folks cannot differentiate subtleties of color, to many - a pink is a pink is a pink (oh my!!)

Well, I'm going to have to stand corrected...I went out to look at the ageratum, and be darned in the afternoon light they aren't true blue. But in some lights, I'm telling you they do look blue. Are they blue, aren't they blue - I don't know, I just know I really like them :0)

ROZANNE geranium, the bloominest of all.Darn it, depending on the light and time of day, she can be a god awful pinky purple, like PJMs, my hatest color in the universe.(but i appear to be the only one w/ this reaction to that color, judging from 80% of the rhodo and azaleas you see in boston area, plus many perennials and annuals.)
best,
mindy

when one is listing true blue flowers, don't forget hydrangea nikko blue and the yellow tradescantia w/deep cobalt blue flowers.and hibiscus Blue Satin is pretty darn close to blue for me.and rhapsody clematis can look v. blue.

I think Rozanne is having an identity crisis this summer. She is much pinker than usual, the flowers are small, and she sure is shriveled. I'm sure its the drought. What drought?, someone asks. I state: we are having a drought.

Mindy, You are not the only who does not like pjm. I think the purple leaves in cooler weather are very attractive, but there is no doubt it is Magenta with a capital M.

In some other plants I don't mind magenta at all. But it is too much in one place (the entire shrub) in the softer spring light.

mt

"Blue Star" dahlia a few years ago. I'm shocked that the thread still exists!

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Star Dahlia thread

I'm not sure what the fuss is all about . . .
There are a kazillion shades of blue. As a watercolourist, I have any number of blues available to me in tubes, a primary colour though it may be.

This is like claiming a person with light blue eyes doesn't have blue eyes.

Is there a true yellow bloom?
Is there a true red?

I was initially disappointed in the color of my "Blue Fortune" agastache. In my garden they look pale lavender in their best moments and gray in their worst moments. DH, who rarely comments on my plants one way or the other, even asked if that was "all they are going to do." Then I saw how many butterflies and bees they attract. They are just covered with yellow swallowtails all day long, so I guess I'll have to keep them and learn to love the color.

Totally Confused

When my thirst for true blue overcomes me, I turn to my annual lobelias--as gorgeous blue as a delphinium (which I can't grow). The only other true blue I have is an (unknown) Siberian iris--jewel-toned dark blue.

Kate

I was not forced to buy them , but have seen them being advertised as blue: all campanulas, e.g. persicifolia , lactiflora , latifolia. None of them is true blue. Rhododendron catawbiense is in Denmark advertised as blue!.Rhododendron augustinii. Azalea Blue Danube(dirty pink). Tulip Blue Parrot. Aconitum napellus. Wisteria.

Got a little creeping campanula that I use as groundcover under hostas, it is a true blue. And nobody has mentioned balloon flower, which is blue. I also have native spiderwort, which is about as blue as you can get, and wild chicory, one of my very favorite blues. I know there are a lot of fakers out there, but there are also a lot of true blues!

I actually enjoy the whole range of blues, blue-purples and purple. However, there are a few plants that to my eye are true blue. Evolvulus glomeratus is a half-hardy perennial with flowers the same color as forget-me-nots and Brunnera and slightly hairy silvery small green foliage. A couple of Gentians ('True Blue' and septemfida) are blue in my soil and I have a couple of half-hardy Salvias that look quite close to blue unlike all the Salvias that are perennial for me.

As far as I understand this thread is about flowers which are not true blue, but advertised as such. Balloon flower is true blue on the tags, but only there.

It took me a few tries to find this thread I remember reading years ago.

Siberian Blues Dianthus is definitely mauve and not blue. My Fama Blue Scabiosa is more of a blue/purple, depending on the time of day and how old the bloom is.

Brunnera is a gorgeous light true blue. There is nothing else that I've seen out there like it. Cranesbill Jolly Bee is a bit bluer than Rozanne. I grow both and at times they look exactly alike. I think a lot depends on the heat and the time of year. I bought an annual salvia at a greenhouse this year called Patio Deep Blue and it is a very, very intense blue. I hope they sell it again next year in case I don't get seeds to save from it. Another nice blue salvia is Salvia Black and Blue. It is normally an annual in our zone, but I've had my plant for three years now.

Linda