CERATOSTIGMA willmottianum

Graceful small shrub, perennial and with deciduous leaves, rapidly growing and tidy, light and ethereal, globular shape. It can grow, at the maximum of its development, 60-80 cm tall and large. Native to China, it has numerous thin and delicate stems, with an erect course or slightly spread outwards, so that the plant is hemispherical and thick. The leaves, small and opposite, oblong-lanceolate with acute apex and smooth margins, are bright green, but turn an intense bright red in autumn before falling. Between summer and autumn, among the rich foliage, small flowers of a very intense blue stand out, gathered in short hemispherical inflorescences in the terminal part of the branches. They have tubular corollas that in the front are large and five-lobed.

It prefers sunny and bright locations or at most partial shade; it adapts to any type of soil, as long as it is well-drained. It tolerates the saltiness typical of the marine winds of coastal regions as well as prolonged periods of drought. It bears minimum winter temperatures even of several degrees below zero and therefore it is also suitable to regions where the cold is intense and long-lasting in winter. In spring, at the vegetative restart, it is possible to eliminate dry, damaged, old or cluttered parts; at the same time, all the various stems can be shortened, thus stimulating a thicker and regular growth and increasing the subsequent flowering. Excellent and generous pot or container plant on terraces and balconies; in the open ground, as well as a free and isolated specimen in any corner of our garden, it can be used to create, alone or alternating with other essences with contrasting blooms or foliage, original borders with simple maintenance.