They only look delicate, these are tough plants
09/02/2014 By Pamela Aparo

The first time I planted these I put them between a rock and a hard place, literally. They were used to fill the area between a rock wall & the road. It's a sandy area naturally, but gets even more sand each winter when they treat the roads. I planted them in the spring & then ignored them for about 3 months. Life got in the way & the weeds were very, very tall around them. I started thinking of it as my "secret garden" because no one would know what was there.

In the late summer I finally got back to gardening & pulled all the weeds. I expected that maybe half the plants would have survived that much competition for light & water. I think I lost one (out of 72). I was amazed that they had survived such neglect. It took about 3 years for them to completely fill that area, and they looked amazing covered in blue flowers each spring. I moved from that house & finally have another place to put them in my new garden. These are a GREAT plant. They look delicate but can survive some really harsh conditions (I'm in zone 5).