PlantFiles: Leadwort, Hardy Blue Plumbago
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

If you are looking for hardy groundcover that comes back every year in the midwest this is a great choice. It has survived cats and kids walking on it and once established doesn't need watering unless the weather is really dry. The downside is that it does spread. We have it in a raised bed adjacent to a paving stone sidewalk. it sprouts out of the cracks in the landscape timbers and even out onto the sidewalk. It does not spread into the shady area, so did not take over the entire bed which is part sunny and part shady. In trying to take some of it out to move to an area where I dont care if it spreads, have had no luck transplanting it, the underground root network makes it hard to get enough root to let it get established.

I love this as a ground cover, it came with the property so the patch has to be at least 50 yrs old. Transplanted it in full bloom last fall, it never even wilted ( I did keep it well watered) and is coming up again this spring. It spreads but is not invasive in my zone 6b garden in morning sun.

I truelly love this plant, sadly, the second winter here in zone 5a wiped it out. I wish they had a hardy variety. Some plants can push the envelope. Not this one.

I just planted this about 6-8 weeks ago, but it's doing fantastic in poor, dry soil with full to dappled sun from about 9-2. The plants were in bad shape when I bought them on sale, but they did great as soon as planted. It's been very dry here and I have to ration my cistern water, but so far so good. Beautiful blue flowers. I thought this baby must be invasive...but the comments here are not too bad. Thanks all!

I purchased one from the botanical garden fair in May and it was labelled as zone 4 (Canadian). Is it a mistake?

This is the wonderful groundcover with the brightest blue flowers. I planted mine in part sun and they have done well. they died back in winter, I forgot about them and then, what a nice surprise this spring. Have been blooming non-stop. I bought it at CJ's recommendation.

This thrives for me in Zone 5. My plants are in a rock garden that I don't give supplemental watering and they have been growing like crazy. My husband mows it down every spring, and I've since read that you should cut it back in spring so maybe that's why it does so well. I've even seen some shoots in my neighbor's lawn, through the chain link fence (now I try to keep it reigned in better).

I got a tip to use this to hide the die-back of spring blooming bulbs. Seems like a great fit, the late spring emergence would be a plus!

This is NOT Plumbago auriculata aka cape plumbago, leadwort. This is Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, meaning it resembles plumbago. It is commonly called dwarf plumbago. They are both in the same family. If your plant gets three feet high and four feet wide, you have Plumbago auriculata. It doesn't turn red in the fall. This is a groundcover, and a beautiful one at that. Mine fries in full sun, but it loves it in morning sun to about 2 o'clock sun.

This is one of my favorite plants. The plants I have had for many years begin flowering in LATE SPRING and continue until frost! No better blue flower out there!

A nice looking plant, especially in fall when the leaves turn red. My information says it is hardy in zones 5-9.

I have used plumbago in hanging baskets, (with the coco liners). As the plants grow it is easy to use hairpins to train them down the sides of the pot, where they eventually turn an ordinary planter into a big globe of blue flowers. Very pretty.

I want to remove this plant. It was planted on top of bulbs to mark them. It has never looked nice. Right now it is floppy, no flowers, unattractive foilage - etc. Just a blob. It is spreading which I don't like. I don't think I like groundcovers anyway. I like to soil available to me at a moments notice. It is growing in mostly sun in the summer and more shade now.

A really delightful plant; the blue is one of the best I've ever had in my garden, and it is in bloom for a very long time in late summer. The reddish foliage in the fall is beautiful, too; and extends the season.

In three years, mine has spread to about 3' around in a shady spot in central Ohio. It's close to the house, so it's doing well, even tho' we're zone 5.

Now that I've found this plant I will never be without it!

I planted one small plumbago in a protected corner with some sun, close to an outdoor spigot. This plant has gone bonkers!!! At least three feet high and spread out to about four feet. Apparently, it's in TOO good a spot. I checked your website to see if I could move it and I see that I should wait until spring. I will re-plant in a much larger area next time.

I used to have my plumbago in the dapple shade. Well it died there. so I planted it in full sun and it has spread into the next garden. You would think it was a ground cover the way it has taken off.

Even though this reportedly is hardy only to Zone 6, if planted in a protected area (moist, well-drained, too) this is certainly hardy in our zone 5A/4B climate. Last winter was particularly rough in terms of zero-minus and no snow cover; lots of gardeners (me too) lost lots of perennials - but this one pulled through with flying colors! My next-door neighbor is actually reconsidering where she will keep it, since it is so prolific as a ground cover! And the colors in late summer through fall are spectacular! The bright blue flowers against the burnt-red foliage is hard to beat!

San Antonio, TX
Last summer, I planted 3 young plants, 5 inches apart, in a partial shade location to test them out: 2 died and one barely survived (in the area that received more sunlight). The surviving plant has done well this summer and is starting to bloom now, in late August. Perhaps I planted them too late in the summer last year. The blooms are beautiful. I will test them again by planting them in the spring.

The only reason this isn't THE most popular groundcover is because it's herbaceous (dies back to the ground each winter.)

Other than that, it's got everything going for it - nice, lush foliage in the spring, turns a wonderful red color in the fall, and has electric blue flowers from mid-summer on.

I've learned the hard way to increase my stock only in the spring - the plants resist (by dying) being moved from mid-summer onward. The brittle, cream-colored roots have tell-tale rings around them, making them easy to spot. When they're still somewhat pliable, quickly move them to a pot or another location, plant them an inch or two deep and keep the soil moist. Soon you'll see new growth emerging.

This woody perennial emerges very late in spring, just as bluebells are going dormant, making it an ideal follower, especially to maintain the blue color in the bed. A medium frost brings the best color to the foliage, but frequently is not enough to end the flowering, thus getting sky-blue flowers on red-foliaged plants.

Very easy to propagate these, either by lifting and dividing the clump, removing a piece of underground runner, layering a soft new shoot, or a woody old shoot after nicking it slightly.

Grows in full sun to full shade, but best flowering with mostly sun.

Plumbago (also commonly called leadwort) is a wiry, mat-forming perennial which spreads by rhizomes to form an attractive ground cover. Typically grows 6-10" tall on generally erect stems rising from the rhizomes. Oval to obovate, shiny, medium green leaves (to 2" long) turn bronze-red in autumn. Terminal clusters of 5-petaled, gentian blue flowers (1/2 to 3/4" diameter) appear above the foliage over a long summer to frost bloom period. Flowers resemble those of woodland phlox.

This hard perennial has wide lance-shaped leaves that become bronze-red during autumn. The terminal clusters of blue flowers appear from late summer onwards. It brings late color to mixed borders. Light soil and a sunny site suit this attractive plant.

It is easily increased by lifting and dividing clumps in spring just before shoots appear.