Amsonia tabernaemontana Storm Cloud

Amsonia tabernaemontana 'Storm Cloud' is a recent variety of Amsonia that combines all its qualities. This superb perennial plant forms a large clump of unusually dark stems, which bear silver-veined olive green willow-like leaves. From summer until the first frost it is adorned with panicles of small star-shaped flowers, a celestial blue colour resembling that of periwinkles.  This hardy and vigorous perennial has as much presence as small flowering shrubs. It brings a lot of lightness and charm to perennial or shrub borders. It takes a little longer to establish itself, but it is easy to grow in sun or partial shade, in well-drained, moist, or even wet soil.

Amsonia tabernaemontana is a plant from the apocynaceae family, it is a cousin of our periwinkles native to the northeastern and central United States. It is found growing in sandy soils, in woodlands, and in wet environments. The 'Storm Cloud' variety was recently selected in the United States. It develops numerous almost black shoots from spring, which lengthen and eventually form bushy, very flexible clumps with an open habit, reaching around 70 cm (28in) in height when flowering and over 60 cm (24in) in width. This plant takes time to establish, but it lives for many years. Its long blue buds open into small bright blue flowers, which are very open tubes. They are grouped in pyramidal panicles and bloom abundantly between May and July, sometimes until autumn, for several weeks. The leaves resemble those of willows. They are olive green marked by silver veins, 3 to 6 cm (1 to 2in) long, lanceolate, and very attractive even outside of the flowering period. The deciduous foliage takes on a beautiful autumnal yellow colour before disappearing. The entire above-ground part of the plant disappears with the first frost, to rest during the winter.

Amsonias are very hardy and grow easily in sun or partial shade, in well-drained soil that does not dry out in summer. A magnificent ornamental plant for gardens, 'Storm Cloud' Amsonia enhances all its neighbours, from opulent perennials to modest shrubs. You can easily associate it with daylilies, willowherbs, ironweeds, Cape lilies, perennial geraniums, or grasses that prefer moist soil. It is also an excellent plant for partial shade, to be associated with bleeding hearts, and Japanese anemones, which take over in August-September. Planted en masse, in a composition of baptisias, large coneflowers and sunflowers, Amsonia creates a moving and wild scene from another continent. Its flowers are also beautiful in summer bouquets.