Blue plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) covers itself in blooms through summer and autumn, with the flowering period lasting until frost arrives

If you like plants with blue flowers, blue plumbago is absolutely the best choice; it is an especially easy plant to grow, producing particularly brilliant blooms in summer and autumn, and its flowering can continue right up until the winter frost arrives. Its flowers are sky blue, and it grows especially vigorously in spring and summer. It is suited to being grown in a sunny spot.

In fact, blue plumbago has another special trait: when autumn and winter come and the temperature difference between day and night grows larger, its leaves turn from green to bronze or pale red, which looks truly astonishing. The pairing of red leaves and blue flowers is wonderfully striking.

Blue plumbago is a particularly easy-to-spread herbaceous flowering plant with some climbing ability. During care you can set up a somewhat low trellis for it. Its branches and leaves grow especially vigorously, and if planted in a yard and left unattended, they can cover a large area on their own.

When caring for blue plumbago, also be careful to protect it from freezing; the minimum winter care temperature should stay above 5°C, and potted blue plumbago can be moved indoors in winter.

Blue plumbago likes a sunny environment, so avoid growing it in shade. The more sunlight it gets, the more brilliantly it blooms; ideally it should receive more than 8 hours of light each day. When summer temperatures are high, there is no need to deliberately shade it, and in winter even when moved indoors it should be placed by a windowsill that gets plenty of sunlight.

Blue plumbago is not very fussy about soil; it only needs good drainage, and some slow-release organic fertilizer should be added to the soil. The soil can be a mix of peat moss and perlite, with some compost soil added as appropriate.

If blue plumbago is grown in a pot, when summer temperatures are too high and the sunlight is intense, it can be shaded appropriately in the afternoon to prevent the leaves and flowers from being scorched.

During the peak growing seasons of spring and summer, blue plumbago can be given a little supplemental dilute organic fertilizer, preferably a slow-release organic liquid fertilizer. The concentration must not be too high, generally applied once every two weeks. Once the weather turns cold in autumn, fertilization should be stopped.