Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Nigella damascena 'Miss Jekyll Blue'

Family: (Ranunculaceae)

(A) to 18″.  Love-in-a-Mist.  South Europe.  Soft, many-petalled, sky blue flowers are surrounded by curved, feathery bracts.  Upright stems covered with delicate, fern-like foliage make the blossoms appear to be floating on a misty green bed.  Fawn-coloured, inflated, papery seedheads are attractive when dried.  Sun.  3 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Trachelium caeruleum

Family: (Campanulaceae)

(A or TP) to 3′.  Blue Throatwort.  Mediterranean.  Large, umbellate clusters on upright stems bear many small, five-petalled flowers dotted with a white exserted style that looks like a tiny white pin.  The flowers are a vibrant violet and lightly scented.  Attractive dark foliage is toothed with purple veins. A long bloomer that makes a great cut flower.  Sun with afternoon shade.  Well-drained soil.  4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Schivereckia doefleri (syn. Draba doerfleri)

Family: (Brassicaceae)

(P) to 6”.  Eastern Europe. A tough and attractive dwarf cushion with grey-green loose rosettes of oblanceolate, slightly toothed leaves. Four-petalled white flowers in terminal racemes of up to fifteen in late spring.  Long-lasting, buff-coloured seedheads follow.  Sun.  3 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Verbena hastata

Family: (Verbenaceae)

(P) to 5′.  Simpler’s Joy.  Eastern North America.  Tall, erect stems with a branched inflorescence of tiny, tubular, purplish pink blooms in dense terminal panicles.  The lance-shaped, toothed foliage is rough textured and somewhat coarse in appearance, making this a better candidate for informal plantings.  Blooms July to September.  Sun.  Moist soil.  Sun.  3, D & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Allium moly

Family: (Alliaceae)

Hardy bulb to 12″.  Golden Garlic.  Southern and southwestern Europe.   Star-shaped, 1/2” diameter, bright yellow flowers appear in loose umbels atop leafless stalks in late spring above with flat, tulip-like, blue-green, basal leaves which appear in 2’s.  Sun.  3 & 6

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Jasione laevis

Family: (Campanulaceae)

(B/P) to 12″.  Shepherd’s Scabious.  Western Europe.  Globose, terminal heads of pale blue, narrow-petalled, pincushion-like flowers on slender stalks arise from densely tufted rosettes of lanceolate, wavy-edged foliage.  Blooms midsummer.  A plant of dry, open grassland and rocky cliffs.  May prove to be biennial, so allow to self-sow.  A charmer.  Well-drained soil.  Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Eupatorium hyssopifolium

Family: (Asteraceae)

(P) to 3′.  Hyssop-leaf Thoroughwort.  A plant of sandy soils and coastal areas from New England to Florida.  Large, flat-topped inflorescences of white flowers up to one foot across.  Fine textured foliage of narrow, whorled, grey-green leaves.  Easy and a good late summer bloomer.  Well-drained soil.  Sun.  4 & T2

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Eryngium yuccifolium

Family: (Apiaceae)

(P) to 4′.  The Rattlesnake-Master of North America.  Greenish, prickly, thistle-like flowers on a towering branched stalk.  Broad, blade-like, blue-grey serrated leaves form large striking rosettes.  Well-drained soil.  Sun.  3 & 6 & Δ

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Deschampsia cespitosa

Family: (Poaceae)

(P) to 3′.  Tufted Hair Grass.  North America.  This semi-evergreen grass forms a dense clump of narrow, dark green leaves up to 18 inches long.  In early summer, finely textured, arching flower stalks rise to 3 feet.  Spikelets (flower clusters) are single at the tips of slender branchlets with hair-like awns and are greenish-silver to purple-tinged.  As the season progresses the spikelets bleach to tawny and remain attractive, persisting well into winter.  Bonus:  Larval food plant for several butterflies in North America including the Umber Skipper.  Sun/partial shade.  4 & T1

Scientific Name (Genus/Species): Aethionema schistosum

Family: (Brassicaceae)

(P) to 6″.  Turkish Stone Cress.  Turkey and Lebanon.  Erect, woody stems with narrow, blue-green foliage produce rounded heads of rosy lilac, four-petalled flowers in early summer.  Interesting multi-coloured, flat seed capsules follow and persist.  A welcome self-sower.  Sun.  3 & T1