Artist® Blue Floss Flower

Light Needs

Partial Sun to Full Sun

(At Least 5 Hours of Direct Sunlight)

Mature Height

8-12 Inches

Mature Spread

6-10 Inches

Hybridized to increase heat tolerance and extend bloom time during hot summers, Artist Blue Floss flowers are an improvement over older varieties. Grown as an annual in most regions, ageratum is a mounding filler plant for containers, garden beds, landscapes, rock gardens and mass plantings. Its intense blue frilly flowers blanket pretty green clusters of foliage. They attract numerous pollinators.

Native to Central America, Mexico and the SW United States, Zones 9a to 11b, ageratum can be put out in Zones 3-8 after danger of freeze has passed and can handle a light frost. They are a part of the Aster family of flowers and form small mounds or tussocks with multitudes of flowers, making a beautiful foreground for perennial gardens and rock gardens due to its short stature.

Artist Blue Floss Flower Care

Care and maintenance fall on the easy to maintain scale. With average soil needs, pH 5.8 to 6.2, light feeding or compost when planted in ground, and a regular fertilizing program for container gardens, they provide a dazzling display of color in exchange. Part shade to full sun is preferred as floss flowers are long day bloomers and will perform best in high light. An improved hybrid, Artist Blue will keep blooming in the heat of summer when older varieties have stopped. It prefers night time temps to be at least 5 degrees cooler to maintain optimum color.

Deadheading is not required as this plant will tuck itself to bed and cover up spent blooms quickly with new blossoms. If your plant starts looking tired or leggy, shear once or twice to promote branching and renewed growth for blossoms again in about a week. It is not attractive to deer and not bothered by many plant diseases.

Artist Blue Floss Flower Spacing

Growing only 6 to 12 inches tall and spreading 8 to 10 inches wide, space plantings about 10 to 12 inches to promote good air flow and allow plants to fill in. This blue button-like floss flower pairs well with lantana, osteospermum, euphorbia, lobularia, angelonia, calibrachoa and superbenas, to mention just a few. Artist blue ageratum perform great in containers, and will outperform varieties grown from seed.

SKU:

AGEABP