Gentiana True Blue

'True Blue' Gentian is a new variety of hybrid gentian that is very blue, floriferous, and easy to grow in any moist soil. This perennial has a neat appearance, forming a regular clump adorned with rich, vibrant green foliage, and bears along its stems and at each node, flowers of an authentic gentian blue. From the middle of summer to the beginning of autumn, this gentian reveals its multiple funnel-shaped corollas, creating a dazzling display on the edge of a flowerbed or in a beautiful pot on the terrace. Attractive to bees and butterflies, its flowers are stunning in a vase.

The 'True Blue' Gentian is a very recent American horticultural creation. Like all gentians, it belongs to the Gentianaceae family. It is a deciduous perennial plant, with aerial vegetation that disappears in winter. Forming an upright but slightly spreading clump, this bushy variety is adorned with beautiful lanceolate leaves, shiny, measuring about 4 to 6 cm (2in) long, of a beautiful dark green colour, with a lighter central vein. With fairly rapid growth, it reaches about 60 cm (24in) in height and 50 cm (20in) in width. From July-August to September, numerous large flowers 5 cm (2in) in diameter bloom along the length of the stems, in the shape of trumpets, facing upwards. They bloom at the axils of the leaves and in terminal clusters. They only fully open in very bright sunlight. Each one has a corolla that widens into 5 lobes of a very bright blue, with no trace of violet. The throat of the flower is streaked with white and midnight blue.

The True Blue gentian is a perennial plant that is relatively easy to grow for a gentian, as it will adapt to a good, well-drained garden soil, even slightly alkaline. In the ground, it will ideally be placed in soil enriched with compost, remaining fresh and well-drained, on a wall, in a rockery, on a slope, on the edge of flowerbeds, or in a trough, in a mountain garden. It prefers sunny spaces but not too hot, or partial shade, where it can establish deep roots. This gentian can be combined, in a flowerbed or rockery, with snowdrops, botanical tulips, crocuses, Lewisia, dwarf conifers, corydalis, or even heucheras. It can be grown in pots without difficulty, following the same growing conditions.

The term Gentiana refers to Gentius, king of Illyria (present-day Albania) in the 2nd century BC, who, according to Pliny the Elder, discovered the medicinal and healing properties of the root of the yellow gentian.