Caryopteris x clandonensis Dark Knight - Bluebeard

The Caryopteris 'Dark Knight' is truly the ideal plant for a natural and wild garden. Its late flowering (late summer - early autumn) is a deep dark violet-blue and slightly fragrant and melliferous. It attracts butterflies and other pollinating insects. Its deciduous leaves are green with a silvery underside and aromatic when crushed. This vigorous small bush has many advantages. Easy to grow, it is resistant to cold and drought (once well established) and to diseases. Plant it in a sunny spot in well-drained soil.

Caryopteriss are small bushes from the Verbenaceae family, native to East Asia, where they grow in forests and on dry and hot slopes of the Himalayas. Caryopteris x clandonensis is a hybrid between C. incana and C. mongolica, which is hardier. This hybrid has given rise to many cultivars, most often with blue flowers, like 'Dark Knight', and more rarely with pink flowers, like 'Stephi'.
The Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Dark Knight' is a compact and rounded small bush that does not exceed 1.2 m in height. Its lance-shaped and slightly toothed leaves are green with a silvery underside. They are aromatic when crushed. In August-September, it is covered with small axillary and terminal clusters of small tubular flowers in a magnificent deep violet-blue color. Slightly fragrant, they are also melliferous and nectariferous and attract butterflies and pollinating insects like a magnet. Cut a few branches with buds to enhance your late summer country bouquets.

The 'Dark Knight' Bluebeard naturally finds its place in a flower bed, a border, or a rock garden, in the heart of a natural and wild garden or even an English garden. It can also be planted in a pot on a terrace. Surround it well, as in winter, once its flowering is over and its foliage has fallen, it tends to be forgotten. Pair it with shrubs with colourful autumn foliage like Euonymus alatus 'Compactus', or with golden evergreen foliage like Euonymus japonicus 'Aureus', or even with a rock garden conifer with bluish foliage, Juniperus horizontalis 'Blue Chip'. As for perennials, consider Verbena bonariensis or autumn asters. Yellow-flowered plants are also good companions. Then choose Potentilla fruticosa 'Elizabeth' or Echinacea 'Chiquita'.