Caryopteris Sterling Silver

A truly distinctive shrub, this delightful seedling of the famous Caryopteris Longwood Blue offers bright silver foliage! Outstanding in any sunny setting, the fragrant leaves and brilliant deep blue blooms delight the butterflies and offer a rare late-season glimpse of rich color. No wonder it's an award winner!

Just 2 to 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide, this nicely branched, neatly rounded shrub covers itself in glittering silver leaves from spring through fall. Unlike any other plant in the garden, it is irresistibly head-turning, even when not in bloom! Brush past the leaves and they release their sweet scent.

Then, beginning in late summer and continuing into fall, dark violet-blue blooms top the plant, bringing in the butterflies. The combination of silver and blue is very handsome, and few other blue-flowered plants are in bloom this late in the season. Sterling Silver is magnificent!

Bred in England by noted plantsman Peter Catt, Sterling Silver walked off with the silver (how appropriate!) medal at Plantarium 2008, and we are honored to be able to make it available on this side of the Atlantic at last. You will find it very easy to grow, drought-tolerant once established in your garden, and left alone by nibbling deer. All it asks is a hard pruning in late winter or earliest spring to improve its dense branching still further each year. Don't wait to add it to the sunny border or meadow garden! Zones 5-11.