ASIAN FAIRY BLUEBIRD is doing a wonderful job with multiple blooms. Nice photo of it.

Julia

Gorgeous photo of Asian Fairy Bluebird! Ditto on it's portrait with Destined to See. Then a trio of Texas Blue Eyes, wow!

Ice Cream Emperor is beautiful too. but the winner is photo with AFB and DTS. Beautiful indeed.
kay

Thanks Julia!

Kay - I really love seeing Destined To See and AFB together. I'm glad you liked that photo!

Debra

Wow Debra, you really got some beauties.
ASIAN FAIRY BLUEBIRD is gorgeous,and so is Destined to see .I see you have a really nice WONDER OF IT ALL bloom .its gorgeous.I have 4 rebloom scapes on mine,so far.

jean

Jean - That's great when your favorite one has so many rebloom scapes. My WOIA has three rebloom scapes, and one of those should start blooming this week. So there should continuous bloom on that one for awhile.

Debra

All are beauties! Ice Cream Emperor looks good enough to eat! I would like to see them all growing in my garden some day.

Wow. I love the 4th picture and ORCHID ELEGANCE is my favorite here.

I love this idea of a blue and white bed. How many total cultivars are in the bed? I think I would be limited in the number of whites I could grow here, since the ones I really like that you grow all appear to be too tender for my climate.

I love every one of them, but that eye on Cerulean Warbler always wows me.

Now I have to have a blue and white bed! The idea is just brilliant.

The AFB pic with Destined to See is a marvelous cluster, and the following pic of Orchid Elegance (and Winter Treasure) has a beautiful line. Now tell us just how the various Lambertsons have performed. Ice Cream Emperor has been a total mess here. I am saving a pic of it to enter the ugly contest.

Six Asian Fairy Bluebirds are so beautiful! Especially like the combination of them with Destined to See. But my favorite is Wonder of It All, what a gorgeous daylily.

If I could have another bed I'd totally steal your idea of Blue and White bed, except make it Red and White :)

Chris - The original blue and white bed had nine cultivars, three rows of three. I'm expanding it this year, so it will have 18. As for whites, Winter Treasure (the truest white I grow) is the centerpiece. It is a semievergreen and very hardy.

Mantis - Cerulean Warbler and Asian Fairy Bluebird are tender and marginal performers here. Neither is well budded in my climate, but both multiply well. Cerulean Warbler usually reblooms, while AFB rarely does. They stay only because the blooms are extraordinary, and I use them for hybridizing. The true blue performers in that bed are Jitterbug Blues, Orchid Elegance and Texas Blue Eyes. They are all well branched, well budded, and rebloom well. Jitterbug Blues is a semievergreen but has dormancy in its background. Orchid Elegance is a hard dormant that should do well in the north. Texas Blue Eyes, which I think is much prettier than Cerulean Warbler, is a hardy evergreen. Chances are it would perform well in Ohio.

I'm so sorry Ice Cream Emperor hasn't been behaving for you. It opens so perfectly here. The only time I've had bad blooms on it are when thrips have deformed the sepals. Now Wonder of It All is a different story. A third of the blooms will not open without help.

Debra

Ice Cream Emperor is looking fantastic. I have to admire Asian Fairy Bluebird. it's so beautiful, especially in a clump..of course they all look great..Ellie

Ellie - This is the first time AFB has made an impressive clump, and I've had it five years. Some of those years it didn't bloom at all, but it kept multiplying well. Many of its fans don't even put up scapes. I probably have 12 or 13 scapes, but only seven have scapes now.

Debra

I'm in heaven what a stunning group of photos. Asian Fairy Bluebird is gorgeous.
Linda

Debra, Mantis, et al., for a beautiful Lambertson that would work in a blue and white bed and that (so far) is hardy in my zone 6 garden, try SUBTLE KNIFE.

GET JIGGY is also a very pretty one, and except for the first flower or two each year, has shown intense pattern. But it does have a pink(ish) background color as far as I'm concerned, rather than the cream described in the registration info, so maybe it should be sited at the end of the blue & white bed...where you transition to your (well, if it were me doing the garden) pink and orange bed. :)

What about LAST SNOWFLAKE as a white one for a blue & white bed? I thought you had that one, Debra. Mine is perfectly hardy and beautiful, even without coming anywhere near the registered 7 branches and 60 buds. (Although to be fair, the sheltered spot it's been in is too dry, and I never remember to water it.)

For people who like spiders, UFs, and such, whites might include any or all of these Gossard's: HEAVENLY ANGEL ICE, HEAVENLY CURLS, HEAVENLY GHOSTRIDER, HEAVENLY SNOW WHITE, HEAVENLY WHITE LIGHTENING, ICEMAN, LIGHTENING FORCE, POLAR BEAR EXPRESS, STARDUST DRAGON, TAHOE SNOW BLIZZARD....I'm sure there are more, but, well, you get the idea!

Also, there's SMALL WORLD JACK FROST. According to the AHS database, it's registered as cream to white and as having 7 branches and 50 buds. Wow. Now I want it.

All beautiful as usual, but my favorites are the shot of Asian Fairy Bluebird with Destined to See and Cerulean Warbler.
Val

This is a wonderful thread with beautiful pictures and terrific ideas for plant combinations. I am blown away by all your pictures, and now I think I have to start a blue and white bed-- but first, better run the idea by hubby, since he does all the heavy work here--LOL!!! Avedon

Lynxe - I do have Last Snowflake. It's my #1 favorite out of 700 dayllies. After it blooms this season, it will be located to the blue and white expansion. Arctic Lace is another good choice that I have heard performs fairly well in the north.

Avedon - Good luck with convincing hubby you need a blue and white bed!

You might want to avoid a mistake I made - putting too many early blooming near whites so close together. Most of my blues don't start blooming until midseason. With the expansion, I'm putting more distance between the whites and adding Blue-Eyed Butterfly, an excellent performing Lambertson, my violet lavender and cream seedling out of Karelia, and four blues who are still growing in pots.

Debra

what a great idea for a flower bed, I really like those white ones!! pretty clumps and all.