Name: Ageratum ‘Blue Horizon’

Type of Plant:  An annual, typically available in six-packs in the garden center, but also easy to grow from seed. This is the first F1 triploid Ageratum that was bred for cut flower cultivation.

Why I Love This Plant: I love this because it’s a fairly tall annual. That’s desirable as we live in a sea of short, bushy annuals and we need other that work well for cut flowers or for planting among perennials. I love that this variety flowers all summer and well into the fall. It is, in the words of my friend and garden assistant Pamela Phipps, “A real workhorse in the garden.”

I also love the lavender-blue flowers because they blend with any other cut flower, be they pink, orange, green or yellow.

A Word to the Wise: If you love cutting flowers, you need this annual. If you’re planting it in a cutting garden for frequent harvest, place the plants about 8 to ten inches apart. If you’re planting this Ageratum in a perennial garden, make groups of six or more plants, placed 6 to 8 inches apart.

When you buy this plant in six packs or grow it from seed, cut off the first flower that appears at the top of the stem. This will prompt the plant to branch out, making more flowers.  As the summer goes on, cut flowers frequently and you won’t have to deadhead.

Ageratum ‘Blue Horizon is a perfect filler in mixed annual and perennial gardens. It provides the “bridge color” from early June until hard frost that can unite a garden. Here it’s with a Euphorbia (white) the red-leaf Hibiscus acetosella, and assorted perennials.

A cutting garden of Salvia, marigolds and Zinnias wouldn’t be complete without Ageratum ‘Blue Horizon.’

Since ‘Blue Horizon’ grows about 30″ high it works well in perennial gardens. This Ageratum is also known as floss flower.

I plant an “Annual Alley” using mostly six-pack annuals…these grow on the edges of my vegetable garden, inviting pollinators in.