Amsonia, Eastern Bluestar, Woodland Blue Star, Willow Amsonia 'Blue Ice'

A long-lived, adaptable plant with clean foliage. I like the flowers, whose blue color is more saturated than that of the other bluestars...Read More I'm familiar with, but it doesn't stay in bloom for long---perhaps 2 weeks.

Requires good sun exposure for the leaves to turn yellow in fall.

Spotted in a seedling block of A. tabernaemontana at Connecticut's Sunny Border Nursery by Michael Dodge, then of White Flower Farm.

My biggest customer had me plant several of this dwarf form of the Willow Bluestar in between a low stone wall and the lawn in a border a...Read Morebout four years ago. They are doing well and are a low maintenance, clean, easy perennial.

I just read the most recent comment on this plant (prior to mine) about how the needle-variety blue star does not seem to have the fall c...Read Moreolor that Amsonia is touted for....Well, I bought 'Blue Ice' expecting a 2 season display...Ha! Not! Yes, the blue flowers are nice, and they do flower for quite a while, but I wanted that clear-yellow fall color they are known for too....Nothing. It's exactly as the last post said - it just sort of looks like it's dying.

I'm actually thinking about getting rid of it!

This is one of those long lasting late spring bloomers that always gets attention. All visitors want to know what it is and where to get...Read More it. I have one that grows 20 to 25 inches by about the same in the dappled shade of an alder tree. It gets a little (maybe a couple of hours) of morning to noon sun. It grows in a perfectly round mound with beautiful vivid blue flowers. This is NOT the needle leaf variety; it appears more substantial and even without the flowers looks fresh in the garden. I have the needle leaf variety and am not impressed with the fall color it supposed to boast. It just looks like it's dying back to me; and the flowers are a pale blue and don't stand out the way blue ice does. I planted a new blue ice last year in the open in all day sun. We had a nasty drought and hard hot summer last year but both plants are coming back vigorously. I'm good at watering often as I have a sandy loam soil that does not hold water well (in spite of amendments). I use a 2-inch thick highly nutritious mulch each year. My daughter has clay soil that becomes very, very wet in the winter. Her amsonia did not return this year after putting it in the ground last early summer. We're trying again but this plant may need good drainage. I actually get more rain than my daughter but because of my sandy loam, my plants never get wet feet. She has other common plants that don't mind the extreme wet and they perform beautifully. I love this plant and have tried to share a bit of it by cutting chunks off the sides. My plant recovers nicely but the "chunks" never seem to make it.