Imperial Violet

Blue Ginger

Tibouchina

Imperial Violet is the pencil color of these two flowers that are now in bloom.

The Tibouchina, or Princess Flower, is a shrub, given to me by Linda Hart, after I lost the one she gave me last year to a late freeze. I understand that these are supposed to come back from the roots after a freeze, but my first one probably hadn't been in the ground long enough to do so. This year I'll definitely provide protection until it is better established. The velvety leaves are almost as beautiful as the blooms. The Tibouchina likes light-I have it in a spot that gets sun most of the day.

The Blue Ginger is not a true ginger but is of the same family as the Spiderwort and Wandering Jew. One of my customers at work, a fellow gardener, brought me some stalks of this one day and told me to plant them vertically under a few inches of soil in a mostly shady area. I was sceptical, but was rewarded the next fall with some ginger type foliage and a few blossoms. Now, four years later, I have clumps of these in several areas blooming like crazy with an almost florescent Imperial Violet flower stalk.