Plumbago - a nice shade of blue.

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Nice Shade of Blue
Tucson gardeners can look skyward most days if they want to see blue in the garden. Those seemingly constant daytime clear blue skies are usually overhead unless we happen to have a day or two of rain or a late afternoon thundershower in the summer.

If you'd like to bring a shade of blue down to earth during spring and summer you might want to try the South African native Royal Cape Plumbago, Plumbago auriculata. The shrubby bush with its mass of blooms can offer a constant show of color through the summer.

Royal Cape Plumbago, Plumbago auriculata 'Monott' gets full sun on the northeast corner of this ramada.

Container planting of Plumbago auriculata 'Monott'.

A fairly rapid grower plumbago can be easily controlled with pruning. The two potted plants that sit on the northeast facing corners of the ramada pictured above bloom all summer long and can be counted on to add color to the desert landscape.

Clusters of blue plumbago flowers.
This frost damaged Royal Cape plumbago will get selectively pruned after the last frost to shape, remove damaged wood and encourage new spring growth.

With no protective barriers, my garden gets regular nighttime visits from javelina which like to pull and tear at the plumbago branches and blooms. Usually the animal damage is minimal and more like a case of bad pruning. Even with the rough treatment from the wildlife and seasonal winter cold snaps the plants seem to recover with a bit of corrective pruning to cut out broken or frost damaged branches.

During the summer the potted shrubs forgive if they don't get watered as often as they should. The floral display may suffer but the plant seems to survive. (2008)