Question: Can you tell me more about blue plumbago? Where can I get it?

Answer: Blue plumbago is tough and xeric, or less thirsty. It is native to South Africa and is an old-fashioned kamaaina plant. We used to see lots of pretty hedges grown from it. It was popular in the 1950s and ’60s, then mock orange and panax became more common as hedge plants.

But with the new insect pests attacking mock orange, people are again planting blue plumbago. Its beauty, toughness and new color varieties are making it a popular Hawaii garden plant. There are new cultivars, too, that are a deeper shade of blue. Its scientific name is Plumbago capensis.

Blue is a rare color for flowers, especially here. I was designing a red, white and blue garden for a client who wanted more flowers near an entryway, welcoming staff and residents to work and home. The white and red flowers were easy to find with many options. Blue was a bit harder to find, especially in a plant that would be hardy.

As I did my homework, I found that there were some old plants of blue plumbago that just needed some pothos and other plants cleared away, a bit of compost added to the root zone, and adjustments to the irrigation system. Routine akamai maintenance. This saved the client money and made everyone happy to come to work!

When I worked at the Hale Koa Hotel, we designed large-scale red, white and blue gardens, and it was easy to do. I used two classics for my blue landscapes: blue plumbago and blue ginger. I also planted Blue Daze. These all have nice blue flowers.

My boss loved the Blue Daze so much that he begged me to find it in other colors. The blue flowers are open only in the morning. One cool thing about it, though, that my mother, Marilyn, discovered, is that if you pick some sprigs of Blue Daze and put them in a vase of water, the small blue buds will open for several days. But, again, only in the morning. So they’re perfect for a morning wedding or early lunch occasion.

You can grow blue plumbago as a specimen plant, as a hedge or in a large pot. Remember that plants in pots dry out quicker than those in the ground, so they need more frequent watering.

In the ground plumbago is very tough and xeric once you get it growing. It needs to be in well-prepared soil and watered regularly for the first few months. Then, depending on where you live, you don’t need to water it much, if at all.

When we were keiki, there were several big, puffy hedges of it in our Makiki neighborhood. My mom wouldn’t let us pierce our ears until we were older and responsible. So one day I invented earrings made of the blue plumbago flowers. They have a sticky part on their green calyx at the base of the flower. These made perfect stick-on earrings in a light blue color. All of the fashionable girls in our neighborhood sported them. So elegant!

We also have a native Hawaiian plumbago, which has white flowers with some orange highlights. It’s called iliee, hiliee or Plumbago zeylanica. It makes a nice, tough xeric ground cover. Don’t fertilize it or it will really grow wild.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable landscape consultant specializing in native, xeric and edible gardens. Reach her at heidibornhorst@gmail.com.