Rarely has a plant’s common name so aptly described it. The abundance of powder blue flowers that envelope this plant in autumn truly do give the illusion of a Blue Mist.  In September, when many garden plants are beginning to look ragged and tired, Caryopteris is just coming into its glory.   It companions beautifully with other fall perennials such as Sedum, Rudbeckia, and ornamental grasses. Creating an area of the perennial border devoted to fall blooming plants keeps us excited about gardening through the autumn months. Late season pollinators also appreciate these fall blossoms.

Caryopteris comes in a number of different leaf forms. The standard varieties bear silver-green leaves but there are also pure gold leaf forms available as well as a lovely golden variegated form. A separate species, Caryopteris divaricata, offers a particularly spectacular white variegated form named ‘Snow Fairy’ (this one does not bloom heavily but the stunning foliage makes up for that lack). All have a similar habit, forming a loose but tidy mound roughly 36” x 36”.

Caryopteris is actually a shrub that behaves as a perennial. It develops woody stems but dies down to the ground each winter so requires a renew prune to ground level each spring. It can be late to begin to grow in the spring, also, but has proven reliably hardy for us here.