Blue Mink Flower
Location
Butterfly Garden
- Common Name: Blue Mink Flower (other common names: Blue or Purple Mistflower, Wild Ageratum, Blue Boneset, Flossflower, Mexican Ageratum).
- Scientific Name: Conoclinium Codestinum or Ageratum houstonianum
- Family Name: Asteraceae
- Origin: North America-Mexico, South America
- Height: 6” – 12” – up to 3’
- Width: 6” – 9”
- Growth: Fast growing.
- Zone: 5 – 10
- Light Needs: Full sun.
- Salt Tolerance: Low to none.
- Soil/PH/Texture: Can tolerate most soils from acidic to alkaline if its well-drained.
- Soil Moisture: Average water needs, water regularly but do not overwater, prefers moist but well-drained soils.
- Drought Tolerance: Low
- Pests/Diseases: No serious insects or diseases problems, some can get powdery mildew, leaf miners or aphids.
- Growing Conditions: Easy to grow and spreads quickly by rhizomes and self-seeding. It is usually found growing in wet woods, at bluff bases, and in moist ground along ponds, streams, ditches and sloughs.
- Characteristics: It usually grows to 1’-2’ tall on purplish stems that have coarsely-toothed, ovate-deltoid leaves that are about 3” long. The flowers have numerous small, fluffy, tubular, blue-purple flowers with discoid heads. They will bloom from July to October in thick flat-topped terminal clusters.
- Propagation: By seed or clump division in early spring.
- Wildlife: Attracts butterflies, moths, and bees.
- Facts: The specific epithet means sky-blue or heavenly.
- Designer Considerations: Used for edging, adds color to flower beds or summer container displays.
