A time - essay Lone Star favorite – Blue Daze – has been added to the listing of Texas Superstar plant .
Brent Pemberton , Ph.D. , Texas A&M AgriLife Research decorative horticulturist , Overton , said Blue Daze has been a prospicient - time ornamental darling of gardener and landscapers and deserves the designation .
The late Texas Superstar – Blue Daze – is known for color and ability to do well in the Texas passion . ( Texas A&M AgriLife Research photograph by Brent Pemberton )
To be designated a Texas Superstar , a plant must be beautiful and do well for agriculturalist throughout the province . Texas adept must also be easy to spread , ensuring the plant are wide available and reasonably price .
Blue Daze is a heat- and sunshine - loving , low - spreading tropical plant used as a summertime annual , Pemberton sound out . The variety provides gardeners and homeowners summertime - farsighted flowers of a beautiful sky - blue chromaticity .
“ It ’s a true - gentle flower and a long - institute Texas horticulture raw material , ” he said . “ Blue Daze is very pop because its title - to - fame spicy color is a desired color in the bloom world . ”
Get to roll in the hay Blue DazeBlue Daze is sometimes referred to by the usual name evolvulus or bushy dwarf sunup - glory , or as Hawaiian Blue Eyes .
Blue Daze thrives in garden hotspot that peril less - hardy plant , Pemberton said .
It develop and blooms best in full Sunday , Pemberton said , and produce few flush in areas that are too shady . Blue Daze tolerates salty conditions , which make it a good option for coastal garden .
The plant ’ gray - green foliage serves as a backcloth for small but plentiful brilliant blue funnel shape - form efflorescence . Some cultivar may have foliation that appears downy .
Pemberton pronounce New variety have been introduced over the last several years . The improved varieties , such as Beach Bum Blue , display bigger and more numerous bloom because they have a bushier conformation .
“ Blue Daze performs really well in Texas summer , and the newer varieties just improve on the great characteristic that make it a pet for gardens and landscapes , ” he say .
plant maturate 9 - 18 inches grandiloquent and spread up to 36 inches broad . They are generally grown as an annual in expanse that experience frosts but act as cranky subtropical perennial in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 - 13 .
They can be used as border plants , priming cover song , or a spiller in hanging basket or mixed container , Pemberton said .
Caring for Blue DazeBlue Daze tolerates a wide image of soils , admit sandy soils and soils with inadequate nutrient levels , Pemberton tell . However , the soil must be well - drain , as plants that are too wet can promptly press fungal diseases that will severely abbreviate their life duo . even wet and a balanced fertiliser will help get the plants launch , he tell .
“ If they ’re going in the dry land , it ’s best to constitute them as before long as possible so their roots are well established by summer , ” he said . “ It helps their drought tolerance . ”
Mulching and a monthly fertiliser program throughout the growing season will serve keep the plant blooming , especially in poor soil .
“ They ’re fertile bloomers on a good fertilizing regime , ” he tell . “ Fertilizing helps produce bigger , better and more numerous bloom . ”
Pemberton said Blue Daze and other improved sort should be broadly usable at local nurseries , garden centers and retail stores . Retailers run to deal the plants in 4.5 - in or quart - sizing containers in natural spring and summertime , and in 10 - inch hanging baskets subsequently in the season .
“ The combination of it being a prolific performing artist and its blue color are attributes that put Blue Daze over the top for a lot of gardeners and landscapers , ” he order .
Texas Superstar is a registered hallmark possess by AgriLife Research , a state authority that is part of the Texas A&M University System . Plants are designated Texas Superstars by the Texas Superstar executive board , which is made up of nine horticulturalists from AgriLife Research , Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Tech University .
Source : AgrilLife Today ( Adam Russell )
