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Tradescantia named Blue Stone

Untouched colour-color photograph by J. McCombie.
Tradescantia Andersoniana is also known as: Widow's Tears, Virginia Spiderwort, Spiderlily or Day Flow...
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Untouched colour-color photograph by J. McCombie.
Tradescantia Andersoniana is also known as: Widow's Tears, Virginia Spiderwort, Spiderlily or Day Flower. Spider-lily, Cradle-lily, Oyster-plant and Flowering Inch Plant.
This group of spiderworts consists of several cultivars of complex hybrid origin. The various cultivars share many characteristics, differing mainly in flower color. Spiderworts are erect, clump-forming herbaceous perennials with fleshy, mucilaginous stems and grasslike leaves. Most stand a 1-2 ft (0.3-0.6 m) tall with arching leaves that spread a little less than the height. The three-petaled flowers are about 1 in (2.5 cm) across and borne in terminal umbels, clusters in which all the flower stems originate from the same point. The flowers open in the morning and close by midday, and usually only one flower per cluster is open at a time, but the blooming period lasts for 6-8 weeks. Some of the many cultivars are: 'Blue Stone', 2 ft (0.6 m) tall with clear blue flowers; 'Isis', 18 in (46 cm) tall with dark blue flowers 3 in (7.6 cm) across; 'Innocence', 2 ft (0.6 m) tall with creamy white flowers; 'Snowcap', pure white flowers 2-3 in (5-7.6 cm) across; 'Osprey', white flowers with large feathery blue stamens; 'Iris Pritchard', white flowers flushed with violet; 'Karminglut', deep red flowers; 'Pauline', pink or lilac flowers, 2.5 in (6.4 cm) across; and 'Red Cloud', rosy red flowers. There is also a double-flowered form with dark blue petals: var. caerulea plena.
All of the cultivars included in the Andersoniana Group of Tradescantia were created in gardens by cross-pollinating between and among Tradescantia virginiana, T. ohiensis, T. subaspera. These are wild spiderworts that are native to eastern North America, and grow in moist, open or partially shaded situations.
Spiderworts are great perennials to use in beds and borders because they bloom for a very extended period in spring and early summer and again in autumn. The blue-flowered forms are something of a rarity in the summer garden. Use spiderworts in partly shady areas such as under shrubs where many other perennials would refuse to bloom. It is not necessary to deadhead (cut off) spent spiderwort flowers; they will continue to bloom, producing new flowers each morning. Cut back spiderworts close to the ground in midsummer when they finally stop blooming and begin to look a little ragged. They will sprout back and bloom again in fall.
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caseyjones
 
caseyjones February 25, 2015
The purple in this background looks amazing! Keep the good work going! Thumbs Up!
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