Going Above and Beyond... Beyond Midnight®

Many gardeners find they must live for some time in a home before they can be confident in the colors their gardens need and the times when those colors will be most appreciated. New property owners sometimes pull, transplant, and add plants as soon as they move in. Like others, I have done that. But I have come to know that it takes more than one dance through the seasons to get a true sense of where a garden shines, where it needs help, and when that help is most in order.

I have been in my home for quite a while now. It has taken all this time for me to realize just how much I need more fall color. This is a common realization for gardeners who live in regions that chill down and dry into shades of beige and ochre in autumn. And it is my realization.

Now, in these early days of autumn, I am thankful for the fairly new flowers on my bright-white Sweet Autumn Clematis and perennial Mistflowers which bloom in periwinkle and lavender. I also appreciate the long-ago opened blooms, now pink and papery, on my Panicle Hydrangeas. Plants such as these continue to take their bows as autumn rolls in. It helps that some show off colors that contrast with autumn’s hay-like and ruddy tones of grasses and fallen leaves. But I really do need more autumn color to bolster what these plants offer me. Caryopteris is a way to add visible color, timed perfectly for when my garden needs it most.

Caryopteris is a name that does not always ring a bell for me. But the name Bluebeard does. I probably need not specify the color of the blooms which emerge from a Bluebeard shrub. Or maybe I do need to get specific, considering that at least one cultivar flowers in pink. But most bloom in shades of bluish purple. The fact that these blooms emerge in the late days of summer and into fall makes this shrub especially desirable.

The Bluebeard I am keeping my eye on is a Proven Winners® beauty called Beyond Midnight®. Beyond Midnight® is dramatic. Its dark foliage is highlighted by a glossiness which I love in the garden. And the flowers of Beyond Midnight® are of vivid blue-violet. Other Bluebeard varieties are attractive, but Beyond Midnight® opens up in late-summer in flowers that are reminiscent of a just-past-midnight sky.

Proven Winners® has ensured that Beyond Midnight® is a well-bred Bluebeard. It resists animal visitors who like to use the garden as a buffet. It resists succumbing to some periods of drought. It resists getting too large and unwieldy. And gardeners find these qualities hard to resist.

With the good drainage of loose and loamy soil, this resilient Bluebeard, hardy in Zones 5-9, can take in the sun it loves and do well until the coldest days arrive. Planted in a nice grouping, perhaps in a border, Beyond Midnight® will transform the garden palette by introducing a striking blue-violet to contrast with autumnal tones.

So with my knowledge of my garden, developed over time, I can say with confidence that supplementing what it already has to offer with new fall color is absolutely in order. I am not just looking for any excuse to add plants; I actually need to add a new and special color to get my garden looking its best at this time of year. 

Asters and other options might help me add purples and blues for this year, but a Bluebeard planted in my Zone will drop its leaves and then spring back into shape when warmer months roll around. It seems a good long-term investment for me, and one that does not require much work. Its flowers need no deadheading, and simply cutting the shrub back by about half in the early days of spring will promote fullness and healthy new growth. Able to withstand some dry stretches like the ones we had in the summer months that have just passed, the only thing Beyond Midnight® begs is to avoid sitting in overly wet, over-fertilized heavy soil.

I have found a garden addition that will go above and beyond when it comes to adding a beautiful (visible) new hue to the garden as fall takes hold. (Above and beyond, yes…. This Bluebeard will go Beyond Midnight®, in fact.)