Plumbago offers intense color in summer, fall

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Arboretum’s “Life After Lawn” series – 45 can’t-fail, easy-care, low-water plants well adapted to our region and ideal for drought-tolerant landscapes.

Chinese plumbago

Ceratostigma willmottianum

Size: From 2 to 4 feet tall

Bloom season: Beautiful, intense, true blue flowers in summer and early fall.

Exposure: Full sun to partial shade.

Pruning needs: None; can remove old flower stems with a mower.

Water needs: Medium to low; once established, water deeply twice a month or every three weeks.

Snapshot: This popular small shrub offers a lot of color in both summer and fall. Plumbago is highly valued in landscapes for its intensely colored true blue flowers. But the leaves on this deciduous shrub are pretty, too. Its diamond-shaped bright green foliage darkens to medium green on arching, wiry stems. In fall, those green leaves turn vivid red and the stems are tipped with chocolate-colored seed capsules.

For more on “Life After Lawn,” click on arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

This story was originally published October 7, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Plumbago offers intense color in summer, fall."