Hydrangea macrophylla is commonly called the mophead type, and their flowers are what most gardeners long for: “People lust after those big blue flowers that we go gaga about and people don’t ...

• Duranta repens Blue butterfly bush A semiwoody perennial, this large plant has panicles of 1-inch violet-blue and pale-blue flowers shaped like butterflies. • Clerodendrum ugandense Torenia ...

It offers large, slate blue fronds that make a dramatic statement in any garden. For a double treat, take a look at the erect blue blades of Dianella revoluta.

But it's flowers like Big Blue that rise up above that imaginary line with their glorious spikes of color and create a real showstopping moment. Select a site in full sun for best flower performance.

And blue spring-flowering, cool-season bedding plants must include columbine varieties (Aquilegia) that produce heavenly sky blue flowers and delphiniums (Delphinium hybrids) like Diamonds Blue.

Large plants that reach 4f. (1.2m) at maturity bloom prolifically through summer. Blue cardinal flowers generally prefer moist conditions, thriving in partly shaded beds.

Pugster Blue is a compact variety of Buddelia that has the large, full flowers normally seen on much larger plants. It blooms from early spring through frost with blue flowers, each with a tiny ...

If you want early flowers as well as distinctive fragrance, consider two 10-year-old introductions, Sugar-Sweet Lilac and Sugar-Sweet Blue, offspring of Clematis cadmia. Mr.