What can I say about plumbago? It is such a delicious colour, a pale powdery blue. A dear friend of mine gave me one for my birthday, that was the first week of June and it has not been out of flower since.
I keep it on my terrace in Toronto, as I am not in the country enough to be able to water it on a regular basis. I was a bit worried I would not have enough light to keep it in flower, the terrace only gets morning sun, but look at it!
It can grow to be quite a large shrub, if you live somewhere there is no frost, I will have to bring it inside for the winter. It flowers on new wood, so I can cut it back quite heavily to keep it in shape.
When I was researching the Plumbago, I was looking for a common name for the plant. I have always known it as Plumbago auriculata, but there are quite a few common names, however the one that I felt described it the best was Skyflower. It does look like a little bit of sky fell down and landed.
I am a floral designer living in a tiny condo in downtown Toronto, Canada's largest city. But on the weekend, I am a gardener/frustrated architect trying to keep up with a 3/4 acre garden in Owen Sound, Ontario, a warm (to Canadians, Zone 5b, and a cold (to Americans, Zone 4b) garden.
Green Theatre 
gardeningasylum said,
August 11, 2010 @ 5:57 AM
We can never have enough blue, and that container makes it perfect!
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:00 PM
Love, love, love blue!
Edith Hope said,
August 11, 2010 @ 8:19 AM
Dearest D, Plumbago does make a wonderful container plant. As you say, the blue is perfectly heavenly.
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:01 PM
It is such an amazing colour.
Marguerite said,
August 11, 2010 @ 8:24 AM
While the plant is quite lovely I’m particularly infatuated with the hardscaping and the container!
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:12 PM
Thanks Marguerite. The hardscaping I didn’t have too much to do with, the wall was already there, although we did put up the mirror. The container was from the garbage room at the condo, can you believe someone threw it away?
Garden Walk Garden Talk said,
August 11, 2010 @ 9:00 AM
A really pretty blue plant. I love true blue and it is always a hard color to get for a garden. I will keep an eye out for it, I am glad you posted this plant. I have Duranta erecta on a standard that I got this year. It has pretty blue raceme flowers, but like your Plumbago, must go in for the winter, but then again, so do my rose standards. Heeling them in is not possible here. It is a pain, but the next spring, I am always glad I went through the trouble.
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:14 PM
I am surprised that your rose standards are not hardy over the winter. In Canada, we always think of Niagara Falls as the ‘banana belt’, one of the warmest in Ontario. What a difference the river makes.
Amy/GoAwayImGardening said,
August 11, 2010 @ 10:08 AM
Plumbago is familiar to me. I have mine in part shade and it does very well, too. I love the container stand!
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:26 PM
I am amazed at how many people have mentioned the container, I wish I had put the plumbago in a nice terra cotta instead of leaving it in the plastic.
Urban Dirt Girl said,
August 11, 2010 @ 10:34 AM
Hey D,
Plumbago is the most perfect blue and is one of my favorites. I love it and your fabulous plant stand. You have fabulous taste darling, fabulous!!
M
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:27 PM
M, can you believe I found the plant stand in the garbage room in our condo building. How could someone have tossed it out?
thevioletfern said,
August 11, 2010 @ 11:46 AM
Oh, I agree with sky flower. Very beautiful and I love your planter. I don’t think I could keep it happy over the winter. I will have to settle for less than perfect blue. This cannot be beat.
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:38 PM
I don’t think that I could keep it happy over the winter either, not to sure what I am going to do.
Rosie said,
August 11, 2010 @ 12:35 PM
Its the perfect name for a perfect sky blue. It looks lovely against that mirror on your terrace………….. maybe I should fall in love with plumbago again!
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:39 PM
It is an amazing colour Rosie, I love it just for that.
Barbara H. said,
August 11, 2010 @ 2:14 PM
Love the plant but really, really love the container – both together, with the mirror, make a little spot of heaven.
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:48 PM
Thanks Barbara, I can’t believe someone threw out this container!
Curbstone Valley Farm said,
August 11, 2010 @ 5:49 PM
I used to hate this plant. My neighbor had one that kept scurrying under the fence and getting all tangled up in my butterfly bushes. Having said that though, it is a lovely plant, and here at least, when it’s hot, and dry in mid-late summer, it blooms when many other plants can’t take the heat. I bumped into a lovely dwarf variety of Plumbago at the garden center last weekend (cultivar name escapes me at the moment), but it was a much richer, more vivid, blue. I actually preferred the color of the dwarf, but that’s only because I was forced to wear too much powder blue as part of my school uniform as a child…that color gives me a bit of a nervous tick 😀
Elephant's Eye said,
August 12, 2010 @ 2:56 PM
The deep blue is called Royal Cape. Comes from the Western Cape here in South Africa
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:50 PM
I can understand how being forced into something as a child can turn you off it.
Laurrie said,
August 11, 2010 @ 5:53 PM
I love your last comment, that a little bit of sky fell down and landed on your terrace! Such a pretty plant with such a funny sounding name.
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:50 PM
It is a bizarre sounding name, isn’t there a disease that sounds like it?
teza said,
August 11, 2010 @ 7:26 PM
D:
You have a way of bringing plants to my attention that I am not familiar with – we are like two peas in a pod are we not??? I know Ceratostigma plumbaginoides and more recenly C. wilmottianum, but have never stumbled upon this heavenly specimen as of yet…… and you are so corrent in saying that the sky fell down and landed. Is it readily available in commerce?
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:57 PM
Yes, Teza, it is very easily available. But you would find it in the tropical section, not hardy in Canada, boo!
barry said,
August 11, 2010 @ 8:09 PM
Hi Deborah,
Time and again we gardeners complain about the difficulty of finding good blue flowering plants, and yet there seems to be no shortage excellent examples are shown in our posts.
Perhaps we should start a regular “Blue Monday” to show off some of our favourite blues?
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:59 PM
That is true Barry, blue seems to be a colour that gardeners strive for. “Blue Monday” sounds like a fab idea, we should talk.
Jean said,
August 11, 2010 @ 8:30 PM
That is a very happy — and very lovely — plant. How nice that you can bring it inside for the winter and have that sky blue on the terrace again next year.
p.s. I like the “Blue Monday” idea.
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 8:59 PM
“Blue Monday” is a great idea, I shall have to give it some serious thought!
Jen said,
August 11, 2010 @ 10:37 PM
My absolute all time considerably the most beautiful shade of periwinkle in the world color.
Love your plant, it is soooo gorgeous.
Jen
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 9:01 PM
It is one of my fav shades as well Jen.
Lynne said,
August 12, 2010 @ 9:35 AM
The colour is beautiful indeed. You see plumbago here in New Zealand as often as you see oleander. I can tell you that they grow into large bushes here even with quite hard frosts. I don’t know how they handle snow as the part of NZ that I live in doesn’t get snow at all. I had one at the last place I lived and I had to prune it hard each spring or it would get very leggy.
Sometimes I think it would be nice to live somewhere that had a hard winter so that the garden virtually completely rejuvenated itself each spring. With a snow-free climate, sadly some rather beautiful plants and shrubs can easily lose their appeal because they outgrow their nice compact growth habit so quickly and turn into labour-intensive monsters requiring constant pruning etc.
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 9:02 PM
It is interesting to look at it from a different perspective Lynne. I must say, even though I find the winter can be long, I enjoy that break from gardening. It gives the plants a rest as well.
Melissa said,
August 12, 2010 @ 2:37 PM
This looks like the annual pllumbago that we use in summer containers here – the only other plumbago I know is the one Teza mentioned, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. Thanks for sharing the photos with us – I enjoy seeing a little of your townhouse in addition to Kilbourne Grove!
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 9:04 PM
Melissa, it is the annual (tender) plumbago, great for summer containers. I also have the perennial one as well, love it.
Elephant's Eye said,
August 12, 2010 @ 2:55 PM
I’m so glad you love our South African plants too. When we saw them growing wild in Addo Elephant Park they grow up, to truly HUGE. It is called plumbago because it was once thought to be a cure for lead poisoning, so they called it leadwort. But I much prefer skyflower, this plant is all about that colour.
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 9:05 PM
Fascinating Diana, it is always interesting to hear about a plants history.
Rebecca @ In The Garden said,
August 13, 2010 @ 1:15 AM
So beautiful! I am not at all familiar with this plant. What a gorgeous addition to your city property. 🙂
kilbournegrove said,
August 17, 2010 @ 9:05 PM
Check out the tropical section of your greenhouse, you might find it there.
Water Houseplants « Gardora.net said,
August 24, 2010 @ 6:48 AM
[…] Houseplants can be watered freely now! Did you ever hear about Plumbago auriculata? Some infos: http://j.mp/d16cCM Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Water and Feed HouseplantsHouseplants: Water […]