Caryopteris
Caryopteris spp.
Special Features
Deciduous shrubs valued for their attractive foliage and clusters of blue or lavender-blue flowers blooming in late summer to early fall. Features extremely dark, glossy foliage, a compact habit, and deep blue flowers.
Plant Specifications
Our team will help you integrate this plant into your landscape design
Growing Caryopteris on Martha's Vineyard
Caryopteris x clandonensis, the bluebeard, is a late-summer blooming sub-shrub ideally suited to Martha's Vineyard's hot, dry, sandy soils and full-sun exposures, its silvery-blue flower clusters arriving from late July through September precisely when the island's garden palette most needs fresh blue and lavender tones to complement the warm golds and oranges of the late season. The plant's aromatic foliage is reliably deer resistant, and its compact, rounded habit integrates seamlessly into the mixed perennial and shrub borders of coastal Edgartown and Oak Bluffs properties without requiring staking or structural support even in coastal wind conditions.
Established plantings perform remarkably well in the lean, sandy, well-drained soils found throughout the island, requiring no supplemental fertilization. Estate Care professionals cut Caryopteris back hard to 6 to 8 inches above the ground each spring before bud break, a non-negotiable annual practice that ensures a robust flush of flowering wood and prevents the plant from becoming woody, open, and unproductive at the base.
