September 9, 2013 - Am I blue?

wcutler · Sep 15, 2013

I'm not blue, but Douglas Justice was clearly in his Blue Period when he wrote the text for the garden's September newsletter. It was very handy to have this newsletter, as almost all these plants have exuberantly grown over the labels that I'm sure must be there, but I found hardly any of them.

The quoted text is all Douglas's.

The number of truly summery days reduces to a trickle in September. If we’re lucky, the sun shines and the wind originates somewhere in BC’s Interior, blowing warm, dry air our way. Typically, though, such weather breaks down rapidly in September and the misty Pacific Ocean begins its inexorable march on shore. Still, there is considerable heat in the sun's rays, and September days can be more than pleasant. In the Botanical Garden, September is often overlooked as a good time to visit, but there is plenty to see and enjoy at this time of the year. High on the list of spectacular September flowers are the monkshoods (Aconitum species). Monkshood, also known as wolfbane for its imagined ability to deter wolves, is noted for its unusual and attractive mostly blue or purple helmet-shaped flowers. The most common monkshoods are herbaceous perennials, but a number are herbaceous climbers that scramble through shrubs and small trees. Most species flower in September and October, and look well with the colouring foliage of deciduous plants. Visitors can find monkshoods in a number of areas around the Garden including in the Herbaceous Border, the Asian Garden and along the Boardwalk.
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This is Aconitum uchiyama (I found this label!).

Hydrangeas are, of course, displaying prominently at this time of year, many of them in varying shades of blue. The spectacularly large H. macrophylla ‘Blue Wave’ is a knock-out below the Arbour in the Contemporary Garden. Its more diminutive lace-cap counterpart, H. serrata, is planted in several places at the western end of the Asian Garden.
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I think this is the 'Blue Wave'

and this, which I'm not guessing the name of, was in the same area

If the weather stays warm, the blue leadwort, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, (plants on the Entrance Plaza and in the Alpine Garden) will continue to flower, contrasting with its fall-reddening leaves.
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Another herbaceous perennial, Strobilanthes attenuata, with its purple salvia-like flowers, blooms in the Asian Garden for at least another few weeks.
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A less well-known September-flowering plant is Rostrinucula dependens. It is a suckering, deciduous shrub in the mint family that bears copious purple flowers in long, pendulous, persistent flower clusters. Despite its minty relations, Rostrinucula has no discernable aroma and while it lacks an English common name (it comes from the mountains of western China), the translated Latin is descriptive: Rostr- = beak, -inus- = having, -culus = small; dependens = hanging. The name “droopy snout shrub” was proposed, but it never caught on.
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Looking for "salvia-like flowers", I was led astray right at the outset by this Salvia guaranitica on the entrance plaza. The striking black calyxes seem unusual to me.

And I'm always led astray by Tibouchina, also on the entrance plaza.

Ron B · Sep 10, 2013

Post needs to be checked for spelling, starting with one or two in the original excerpt!

Nadia White Rock · Sep 13, 2013

Actually there are even more blue plants! I always think about yellow flowers in autumn as a proper colors but UBCBG is really full of blue flowers.
Lots of Caryopteris incana and Caryopteris x clandonensis

Clematis heracleifolia var. davidiana and Clematis stans

My favourite blue were Vitex agnus-castus, Nicandra and Rascoea

togata57 · Sep 13, 2013

Should be 'helmet-shaped' in first quotation segment.
First photos should be captioned Aconitum uchiyama.

wcutler · Sep 15, 2013

Thanks for the the spelling corrections, togata57. I've corrected them.

Here's a close-up of the very fanciful curled-up petals on the Clematis heracleifolia var. davidiana that Nadia posted. Last year by the end of August this plant had a lot of seed heads. They seemed to be just starting last week.

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September 9, 2013 - Am I blue?

wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

Nadia White Rock Well-Known Member 10 Years

togata57 Generous Contributor 10 Years

wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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