I love blue in the garden, and my favorite of all is that of the perennial Anchusa azurea (A. italica) dropmore. Its small flowers in panicled racemes make a cloud of gentian blue that is very lovely. In the border it looks wonderful with anything, especially yellow flowers like daylilies, coreopsis, doronicum, and gaillardia.
This anchusa is from 4 to 6 feet high, It is not fussy about soil but is about plenty of sun. It blooms profusely in spring and will bloom all summer too, though less lavishly, if faded flower stems are cut back. It can be increased by root division but I like to grow it from seeds sown in spring, and to transplant seedlings – when they are several inches high – to the border to replace those that have disappointed me in their color, or their amount of bloom. Of course, seedlings do not come into their own until the next year.
