Arthur J. Simmonds Bluebeard

The Arthur J. Simmonds Bluebeard (Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Arthur J. Simmonds') is perhaps the hardiest of Bluebeards! It displays powdery light blue flowers, produced in late summer when few other shrubs bloom! The Spirea-like blooms will continue showing color well into the autumn months!

Before those lovely lavender-blue sprays of flowers arrive on the scene, Arthur J. Simmonds makes a fine-foliaged accent plant! Forming a mounded, formal shape that remains a tidy dome 1-2 feet tall but spreading 2-3 feet wide. It forms a shapely rounded bush, and its light, silvery-colored lance-shaped leaves visually blur with the blue of the flowers!

Growing throughout USDA planting zones 5 to 9, the Bluebeard, also known as the Blue Mist shrub, and the Blue Spirea, acts more like a perennial by dying back to the ground in many areas, but returns anew each spring.

Planting and Application:

This wonderful flowering specimen is also often called the Blue Mist Spirea due to its similarity to the Spirea bush, but the late-season bloom and color sets it apart from the rest! The late summer and fall flower display is a boon for pollen-seeking bees and beneficial insects, and a fine nectar source for butterflies!

The no-maintenance tidy form is useful as a facer shrub to hide the bare, leggy stems of larger hedges or older shrubs. The mounded form can be planted 1-2 feet apart as low-growing flowering edging along the fronts of your sunny garden beds as a continuous row of light green and blue! For more informal presentations, and to allow each shrub to shine on its own, loosen the spacing to 3 feet apart or more

The soft green and fine texture looks great combined with silver-green Ornamental Grass, blue and light yellow flowers, soft pink and white blooms, as well as lavender! Offset this soft hue with golden grasses, orange, and dark purples! Either way, you lean, these airy flowering shrubs will grace the front edges of your Cottage gardens, Rock Gardens, and Perennial borders, and as easy-care pathway and driveway edging! You can even include one in your container gardens and urns!

• Soft Lavender-Blue Flower Clusters
• Light Silver-Green Airy Foliage
• Forms Tidy Domed Mounds
• Pollinator-Friendly Late-Season Flowers
• Great Edging, Facer Plants, Low-Growing Specimens & Containers

#ProPlantTips for Care:

Bluebeard Bushes do best in full sun to partial sun locations. These shrubs need very well-drained soil but aren't picky about what kind of soil, as even poor soil works well. Provide regular water access for new plants, but once established they will only need supplemental moisture during prolonged heat and extended periods of drought. All plants appreciate 3-4 inches of arborist mulch over their roots.

This relatively small deciduous shrub will die back to the ground during the winter. It is suggested that this Bluebeard be pruned to the ground to enhance the production of new wood on which the flowers will be borne.

• Full Sun & Partial Sun
• Any Well-Drained Soil
• Moderate Moisture Needs
• Blooms On New Wood - Prune Back Early Spring
• Deciduous Shrub But Dies Back Like A Perennial

Blue blooms in late summer until fall! Order the Arthur J. Simmonds Bluebeard Bush for your garden and enjoy color through frost! Now available at NatureHills.com!