17 Breathtaking Blue Flowers for Your Garden

By Kaitlyn Yarborough
March 29, 2019
Credit: Susan Ruggles/Getty Images
When it comes to giving your garden a spring-ready refresh, there’s no color as bold and bright as blue. This season, skip the pink zinnias, golden daffodils, and fiery hibiscus plants. It’s time to spruce up your landscape with lavender-blue, electric cobalt, and deep indigo blossoms.Fill up your flowerbeds, porch containers, hanging baskets, or curbside plots with blue flowering plants. Nothing gives a hearty dose of curb appeal like baby blue blooms, after all. These 17 blue flowers will have your garden looking better than ever.  So head to the garden shop, walk right past those azaleas, and go for the blue.
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French Hydrangeas

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Hydrangea macrophylla

Southerners love hydrangeas, that much we know to be true. (Talk about some dreamy bushels of blue.) French hydrangeas will take on a bright sky blue color if you make sure to keep the soil slightly acidic, which is even easier to do when using a pot.

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Virginia Bluebells

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Mertensia virginica

These clusters of baby blue are a surefire way to add curb appeal this season. Like a larger version of forget-me-nots, Virginia bluebells flower early and attract scores of bees and butterflies, which is always a welcome sight come springtime. Pair with annual flowers and late-summer blooms to offset the early flowering and dormant stage.

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Blue Daisies

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Felicia amelloides

This plant makes a cheerful accessory in any garden, with its sky blue petals and light yellow center. Luckily for low-maintenance gardeners, these blooms are fast-growing, wind-resistant, and require only moderate water and care.

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‘Blue Boy' Cornflower

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Centaurea cyanus

These blossoms look fit for a cozy cottage garden, no? Get the double blue color for a dramatic pop of pigment. In fact, the hue is so eye-catching that you’ll catch it come prom season. (The blooms are popular for boutonnieres.)

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Grape Hyacinth

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Muscari sp.

The Grumpy Gardener once declared that these flowers are “absolutely the best, most dependable source of true, deep blue in the bulb world.” (You heard it here first, folks.) These get their name from how their bloom spikes look like miniature clusters of grapes.

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Lily of the Nile

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Agapanthus africanus or Agapanthus umbellatus

Your garden guests will swoon over these fountainlike clumps of strap-shaped leaves, blooming like little bursts of blue fireworks. In warmer regions like the South, this cheery plant requires very little upkeep once planted. And once bloomed, you’ll be set with an abundance of cut flowers for at-home bouquets.

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Swan River Daisies

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Brachyscome iberidifolia

Look no further than this Australian daisy as a fun pop of color in your next container or along your outdoor walkway. These flowers are tough little suckers, too. They can handle a variety of soil environments and have decent heat tolerance, as well as disease resistance.

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Balloon Flower

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Platycodon grandifloras

We can’t forget this perennial blue-flowered show-stopper. This species gets its name from flower buds that inflate like balloons before they pop open to reveal star-shaped blooms. Make sure to remove spent blooms, and this plant will keep producing fresh flowers from early to late summer.

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Forget-Me-Nots

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Myosotis palustris 'Southern Blues’

They had us at the name. This beloved flower tolerates more heat than most, making it perfect for summers in the South. It spreads like a ground cover without totally taking over, which means it’s also perfect for filling in the gaps in your garden. Expect blooms from spring into summer.

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Blue Petunias

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Petunia × hybrida

This classic flower is everywhere, which means you won’t have a hard time finding blue hybrids—like Wave Blue, Supertunia Morning Glory Blue, and Surfinia Sky Blue—that hold up much better to summer heat and humidity than their predecessors. Count on these blooms to brighten up your garden for months.

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Blue Phlox

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Phlox divaricata

You can’t help but be in a good mood when planting this stunning sweep of bright color over your flowerbed floor. The plant bears open clusters of powder-blue or lavender-blue in the spring.

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'Blue Angel' Salvia

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Salvia patens 'Blue Angel'

If you desire a deeper blue plant to complement your garden colors, salvia makes a beautiful choice. Also referred to as sage plants, these flowers are relatively easy to grow and come in wonderful shades of blue. Most species aren’t appetizing to deer, bunnies, and other critters—so your blooms will be safe and sound.

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Sea Holly

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Eryngium maritimum

If you live in a climate with sandy or gritty soil that's inherently low in fertility, this flower is a great choice to get that much-desired pop of blue color during the summertime. Prickly blooms turn into globe-like thistles that look stunning but have a offensive stench. Don't worry—you can pick the blooms, rinse the scent off them, and use them in arrangements.

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Perennial Geraniums

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Geranium 'Johnson's Blue'

Known as a true blue flower, this hybrid of geranium is something to brag about. It grows well throughout the South’s USDA zones, is drought resistant and disease resistant, and attracts butterflies and bees. Need we say more?

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‘Heavenly Blue’ Morning Glory

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Ipomoea tricolor ‘Heavenly Blue’

Let these blue-hued friends roam wild—up a trellis, in a container, or wherever else in the garden you please. This annual species produces pure sky-blue flowers with yellow throats, making it just the eye-catching addition during its blooming period that can last from summer until frost.

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Blue Fan Flower

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Scaevola aemula

You’ll know you’ve treaded into dreamy blue-violet waters when you see that this annual flower is also known as the “fairy fan-flower.” No matter which name you prefer, this plant known for its fan-shaped blooms and is heat- and drought-tolerant.

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‘Cambridge Blue’ Lobelia

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Lobelia erinus ‘Cambridge Blue’

At first glance, you’ll think that honeysuckle got into the blue dye. This similar tubular, lipped flower is electric in color and full of personality. Grow it as a winter-to-spring annual, and expect to see it bloom in dense, compact clumpings.

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By Kaitlyn Yarborough