{"id":299,"date":"2008-08-25T08:43:20","date_gmt":"2008-08-25T13:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/wordpress\/?p=299"},"modified":"2011-04-11T11:51:16","modified_gmt":"2011-04-11T15:51:16","slug":"tip-of-the-week-%e2%80%94-82308","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2008\/08\/tip-of-the-week\/tip-of-the-week-%e2%80%94-82308\/","title":{"rendered":"Tip of the Week — 8\/23\/08"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cunning Caryopteris
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\n\"\" Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/a>High on my agenda these days is using plants that\u00a0benefit the environment while also doing the work\u00a0I need a good plant to do, which is\u00a0to create a beautiful garden. Caryopteris<\/em> or blue beard fits this criterion.<\/p>\n

It is not a particularly needy plant; it doesn’t require copious amounts of fertilizer or water—in fact it likes good drainage and moderate to lean soil.<\/p>\n

Caryopteris<\/em> is a magnet for wildlife: Bees and butterflies cover the flowers while deer show no interest and leave it intact.<\/p>\n

Finally, a bonus for the shrub world—it flowers in August, long after most woody plants have finished flowering for the season.<\/p>\n

It has a nice open structure that makes it an adaptable companion in any mixed border. In one location we have it snuggling up to a Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’. The graceful blue beard’s loose branches\u00a0would also spill nicely into\u00a0any small- to medium-size ornamental grass, making the two a lovely late-season pair.<\/p>\n

I cut this shrub back to a one- to two-foot framework in mid-April to keep it flowering freely and to maintain a\u00a0compact three-to-four-foot fountain of pale-blue to deep-purple flowers for a late season display.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cunning Caryopteris Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden. High on my agenda these days is using plants that\u00a0benefit the environment while also doing the work\u00a0I need a good plant to do, which is\u00a0to create a beautiful garden. Caryopteris or blue beard fits this criterion. It is not a… <\/p>\n

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