Veronica spicata Ulster Blue Dwarf

Veronica spicata 'Ulster Blue Dwarf' is a small Campanulate Veronica with captivating intense and bright, almost fluorescent spikes. It is elegant and sculptural, flowering for a long time with upright, electric blue spikes ending in a very bright green tip. Its compact and low, carpet of growth is topped in summer by these abundant flowers. This robust and hardy perennial thrives and spreads in sunny or partially shaded borders, slopes, and rockeries, in ordinary but well-drained soil. This beautiful border plant is also lovely in summer bouquets.

The spiked Veronica, in Latin Veronica spicata, is a perennial plant of the Plantaginaceae family, formerly classified in the Scrophulariaceae family. It is mainly present from Europe to Turkey, in central and eastern Asia, where it grows in the mountains, up to 2000 metres (6562 feet) above sea level, and sometimes in the plains. It can be found growing in meadows, dry grasslands, rocky slopes and on the edge of forests, mostly on limestone soil. It grows very well in most gardens, in well-drained soil. Veronica spicata 'Ulster Blue Dwarf' is a crossbreeding between v.spicata and v.austriaca. The plant is compact, bushy, and vigorous, 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20in) tall, spreading over 50 m (164ft) in diameter from its powerful semi-woody crown. Its hairy stems are branched towards the top with ovate to linear, pretty medium-green leaves with finely toothed edges that can remain in winter. Between June and August it produces floral stems covered with tiny star-shaped, intense blue, nectar-rich flowers, packed tightly together if conditions are good. It will self-seed in the garden, in light soil.

Veronica spicata 'Ulster Blue Dwarf' should be planted in well-drained, even rocky and limestone soil, in full sun or light shade. It is particularly suitable for a mountain garden with rocky soil. Plant it in a raised bed, at the base of taller plants, on a slope, in a rockery, or even in a pot. It elegantly dresses the base of shrub roses. It can be paired with echinaceas, perennial or shrubby sages, scabious, and lavenders in matching tones. Its relatively flexible blue spikes add height and colour to a low mass of carpet-like plants like aubrietas, wall bellflowers, soapwort, or chickweeds. The dwarf spiked Veronica can also be planted en masse, alone, or in the cracks between paving stones.