{"id":2227,"date":"2017-10-02T06:31:12","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T14:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2227"},"modified":"2017-10-02T06:31:12","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T14:31:12","slug":"blue-boneset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/blue-boneset\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Boneset"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Blue<\/a>
Blue boneset’s wild, aggressive relative, white-flowered boneset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Late fall is dominated by orange, red, russet and gold, as brilliant leaves, goldenrod and millions of cushion mums crash together in a colorful, season-ending plant eruption.\u00a0 But the prelude to all that brilliance rolls through in early fall, in the form of blue, pink, purple and white asters, boltonia and fall-blooming crocuses.\u00a0 A less known traveling companion is blue boneset, aka wild ageratum, perennial ageratum, mistflower and blue mistflower.\u00a0 Its botanist friends used to call it Eupatorium coelestinum.\u00a0 Now they have found a name that twists the tongue even more\u2014Conoclinium coelestinum.\u00a0 Latin names may be understood by plant lovers everywhere in the world, but blue boneset\u2019s English common names are infinitely more evocative.<\/p>\n

You may not know blue boneset, but if you notice plants and live in the eastern half of North America, you have seen its close relative, white-flowered boneset or Eupatorium perfoliatum.\u00a0 This ubiquitous wild plant grows three or more feet tall, with clusters of fuzzy white flowers that appear at the tops of the stems in early fall.\u00a0 Boneset will pop out, unbidden, from under hedges, take hold in railroad rights-of-way and make itself at home in unnoticed corners of garden beds.\u00a0 The phrase \u201cnative plant\u201d has acquired a virtuous taint, but these native \u201cfuzz flowers\u201d can drive you to less-than-virtuous thoughts with their prolific habits.\u00a0 If they were foreign to the New World, we would call them \u201cinvasive aliens\u201d; as it is, we avoid such pejorative terms and label them \u201cvigorous\u2019, or, occasionally, \u201caggressive\u201d.<\/p>\n

White-flowered boneset has its uses, attracting all kinds of pollinators and earning its keep as a cut flower and bouquet filler.\u00a0 Blue boneset, to my mind, is infinitely more desirable.\u00a0 It has similar habits, growing up to three feet tall and wide in sunny or lightly shaded spots with consistent moisture.\u00a0 Blooming at about the same time as its white relative, blue boneset decks itself in \u201cfuzz flowers\u201d, whose soft, blue-purple color will rival that of the most beautiful of the blue-flowered asters.\u00a0 The flower clusters once reminded someone of misty blue clouds, hence one of the common names.\u00a0 Blue boneset or mistflower is not to be confused with blue mist shrub or Caryopteris x clandonensis, a great garden plant that features similarly-colored flower clusters that appear just a bit earlier in the season.\u00a0 It is also not the same as the hybrid blue ageratums, which are low growing annuals, generally offered as bedding plants in the spring and early summer.<\/p>\n

Blue boneset leaves, which are toothed and roughly oval-shaped, appear opposite each other on sturdy stems.\u00a0 They are not objectionable, but fade into the background when the plant is not in flower.\u00a0 This is why the blue flowers sometimes seem to pop up by surprise, as they did in my garden.\u00a0 I suspect bird landscaping.<\/p>\n

Blue boneset is a member of the enormous daisy or Compositae family, closely related to Joe Pye-weed or Eupatorium purpureum, a gorgeous roadside plant that has found its way into many gardens.\u00a0 Another close relation is Liatris spicata, or blazing star, which sprouts beautiful purple flower spikes in summer.\u00a0 Like Joe Pye-weed and white-flowered boneset, it multiplies by seed and by underground rhizomes.\u00a0 I think blue boneset is somewhat less aggressive, but that may be because my garden\u2019s conditions are not congenial enough to encourage rampant growth.<\/p>\n

Like its white-flowered relative, blue boneset is an excellent cut flower.\u00a0 Using the stems in arrangements also keeps the plants from setting seed, limiting the number of unwanted \u201cvolunteer \u201coffspring.\u00a0 Volunteers or no volunteers, blue boneset looks best in a less-formal or cottage-style garden, where it mixes well with its aster cousins, not to mention early fall stalwarts like Rudbekia or black-eyed Susan.\u00a0 Early goldenrod is another fine companion plant.<\/p>\n

If the weather stays relatively warm at this time of year, blue boneset will attract the remaining butterflies and skippers, not to mention the bees that go crazy for the entire daisy clan.\u00a0 It is a good subject for pollinator gardens, native plant gardens or damp gardens, as well.<\/p>\n

There are some gardeners who simply can\u2019t wait for bird landscaping or other serendipitous means of plant acquisition.\u00a0 If you are one of them, rest assured that several commercial vendors offer \u2018Wayside\u2019, a compact blue boneset cultivar that grows to about 15 inches tall.\u00a0 Plants are available from Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Rd. Madison, OH 44057; (800) 852-5243<\/a>; www.bluestoneperennials.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free print catalog.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A close-up of blue boneset flowers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late fall is dominated by orange, red, russet and gold, as brilliant leaves, goldenrod and millions of cushion mums crash together in a colorful, season-ending plant eruption.\u00a0 But the prelude to all that brilliance rolls through in early fall, in the form of blue, pink, purple and white asters, boltonia and fall-blooming crocuses.\u00a0 A less … 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":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[1726,1732,1400,1687,1728,1729,634,1733,1731,448,1727,1730,1734],"class_list":["post-2227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-blue-boneset","tag-blue-mistflower","tag-blue-flowered-plants","tag-butterfly-gardens","tag-conoclinium-coelestinum","tag-eupatorium-coelestinum","tag-fall-flowers","tag-fall-perennials","tag-mistflower","tag-native-plants","tag-perennial-ageratum","tag-wild-ageratum","tag-wild-gardens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227","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=2227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2230,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions\/2230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}