{"id":172,"date":"2009-10-05T07:15:04","date_gmt":"2009-10-05T15:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=172"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:59","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:59","slug":"blue-ageratum-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/blue-ageratum-confusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Ageratum Confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLUE AGERATUM CONFUSION<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When is an ageratum not an ageratum?\u00a0 When it’s a eupatorium.\u00a0 If these words mean absolutely nothing to you, you’re not alone.\u00a0 Even though ageratum are stalwarts of public plantings from gas stations to parks, the name doesn’t trip off the tongue like “zinnia”\u009d or “sunflower.”\u009d\u00a0 But if you want sturdy garden plants with true blue or blue-purple flowers, you should try both annual ageratum and Eupatorium coelestinum.\u00a0 The latter can confuse people, as it is often called “hardy ageratum.”\u009d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Annual garden ageratum is also known by the more poetic name, “floss flower,”\u009d with the “floss”\u009d descriptor referring to the fluffy flowerheads.\u00a0 Most of the popular varieties are a stunning shade of medium blue, though you can also find purple, pink and even white ageratum.\u00a0 In the spring, low-growing, hybrid ageratum shows up at every garden center, big box store and nursery in America.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter, millions of these plants go into beds, borders and pots all over the country.\u00a0 Placed in sunny spots, they bloom reliably until frost, amply justifying the genus name, which comes from the Greek word “ageras”\u009d, meaning non-aging.\u00a0 Ageratum cover themselves with so many blossoms that it’s sometimes hard to see the oval-shaped leaves.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The best thing about annual ageratum is that it plays well with others.\u00a0 It looks wonderful combined with anything yellow, hence the frequent marigold\/ageratum combination.\u00a0 You can also combine it with yellow cosmos or sunny-hued petunias.\u00a0 Older varieties needed deadheading, but most of the currently-popular types simply cover the spent flowerheads with new ones.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Every fall, as frost closes in, ageratum shares the fate of impatiens, coleus and all the other popular garden annuals.\u00a0 It dies.\u00a0 This is because its native habitat is Florida, Mexico, South America and parts of the West Indies.\u00a0 Cold weather pushes it towards the compost bin rather than the dormancy that overtakes perennials.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you don’t want to replant ageratum each year, there is an alternative–Eupatorium coelestinum, sometimes called hardy ageratum, mist flower or blue boneset.\u00a0 At this time of year you see its pesky relative, Eupatorium perfoliatum all over the place.\u00a0 It’s the tall plant with the fluffy white flowers that pops up at random in home gardens, untenanted spaces and just about anywhere else it pleases.\u00a0 I weed it out of my beds every year and the following year it returns undaunted.\u00a0 Eupatorium is tough.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eupatorium coelestinum seems better-mannered than some of its eupatorium relatives.\u00a0 It has the same blue flowers as annual ageratum, but, when installed in a congenial situation, it returns reliably every year.\u00a0 At about fifteen inches tall, it is a little more statuesque than the most popular of the annual varieties.\u00a0 It also begins blooming later in the spring.\u00a0 This is not a bad thing.\u00a0 If your garden doesn’t already contain enough plants to make a splash in the early spring; something is very wrong.\u00a0 The beautiful blue of Eupatorium coelestinum makes a much more important statement later in the season.\u00a0 I saw one not long ago, still going strong in late September, growing alongside some tall white cosmos.\u00a0 The effect was lovely in the soft light of an autumn afternoon.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like Joe Pye-weed, another popular eupatorium, hardy ageratum is perfect for native plant garden.\u00a0 It would be equally at home in an herb garden.\u00a0 Blue bonset and its white-flowered relatives were used by Native Americans and early settlers as an antipyretic or fever reducing agent.\u00a0 When leaves and\/or flowers were brewed into teas, the liquid helped combat dengue fever, which is also sometimes called “bone-break fever”\u009d due to the severe joint pain that is one of the symptoms.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eupatorium coelestinum is a sun lover that also flourishes best in damp soil.\u00a0 Mulching will help keep the roots cool and moist, but you may have to add supplemental water during dry periods. \u00a0The blue or bluish purple flowers are good mixers, combining especially well with yellows, oranges, pinks and whites.\u00a0 Next year I may combine vivid orange Mexican sunflower or tithonia with blue ageratum to attract both butterflies and compliments from the neighbors.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Annual ageratum is easy to get from just about any garden center.\u00a0 However, if you want to try growing it from seed next spring, you can obtain those seeds from W. Atlee Burpee & Co., 300 Park Avenue<\/font><\/font>. Warminster, PA\u00a0 18974; (800) 333-5808; www.burpee.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 The catalog is free.\u00a0 Eupatorium coelestinum is available from Niche Gardens, 1111 Dawson Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, (919)-967-0078; www.nichegardens.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLUE AGERATUM CONFUSION \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When is an ageratum not an ageratum?\u00a0 When it’s a eupatorium.\u00a0 If these words mean absolutely nothing to you, you’re not alone.\u00a0 Even though ageratum are stalwarts of public plantings from gas stations to parks, the name doesn’t trip off the tongue like “zinnia”\u009d or “sunflower.”\u009d\u00a0 But if you want … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1615,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions\/1615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}