Hebe Elegance Blue

Hebe 'Elegance Blue' (Hebe 'Elegance Blue') is a compact evergreen mound about 80cm tall and 80cm wide, covered in blue purple flower spikes through the warmer months. It is the hebe to pick for an exposed coastal border, because it handles salt, wind, frost and dry spells once its roots are down. Give it free draining soil and it asks for very little else.

Why you'll love it

• Blue purple spikes, low down. Flowers sit clear of the foliage on a plant only 80cm tall, so the colour lands at path level where you actually see it.
• Frost, salt, wind and drought. Four tolerances in one small shrub, which is why it survives exposed blocks that chew through softer plants.
• Naturally neat. A dense rounded mound of fine glossy leaves that holds its shape without shearing and stays furnished to the ground.
• A working nectar plant. Bees and butterflies use it heavily over a long flowering period, in gardens far too small for a native shrub border.

Where it works best

Borders and edging. Plant 60cm apart for a low border. The mounds meet within two seasons and the run stays dense at the base, which matters on an edge you look down onto.

Mass planting. Use the same 60cm spacing across a bank or a wide bed. Being smaller than most hebes, it suits shallow beds where a metre wide shrub would spill over the edge.

Coastal gardens and pots. Salt and wind tolerance let it work in the front rank of a beachside garden. In a courtyard, use a pot 350mm or wider with a free draining mix.

Growing Hebe 'Elegance Blue' in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun for the heaviest flowering, with a little afternoon shade acceptable inland. This is a cool temperate, warm temperate and Mediterranean plant. It dislikes hot humid summers, so subtropical and tropical gardeners should expect fungal leaf spotting and choose something else.

Soil. Sharp drainage is not optional. Poor drainage is the most common reason this plant fails, ahead of cold, heat or neglect. On clay, build the bed up 200mm and open the soil with coarse compost and grit.

Water and feed. Water twice weekly through the first summer to settle the roots, then it becomes genuinely drought tolerant and only needs help in long dry spells. One light application of controlled release fertiliser in early spring is enough.

Pruning. Trim lightly right after the main flowering, taking the spent spikes and a few centimetres of soft growth. Do not cut into bare old wood, because a hard cut often leaves a patch that never fills.

What to expect when it arrives

This one is grown in a single size, tube stock. You are buying a young plant of roughly 10cm to 15cm rather than a flowering shrub, so a border planted from tubes takes about two seasons to close over and usually flowers lightly in its first spring.

Tube stock travels well, since the plants are small and the foliage is fine and firm. Plant them out within a few days of arrival, water in, and keep the soil damp but never wet for the first month. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and a minimum order of $300 before delivery. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Shrubs for cool climate gardens
• Nectar plants for bees and butterflies
• Hebe 'Inspiration' for a taller 1m plant
• Fixing drainage in a waterlogged garden bed

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for a border?

Sixty centimetres apart. Each plant reaches about 80cm across, so that spacing lets the mounds overlap slightly into a continuous low band.

What is the difference between this and Hebe 'Inspiration'?

Size and tolerance. 'Elegance Blue' settles at about 80cm and adds drought tolerance, while 'Inspiration' reaches a full metre with purple rather than blue purple spikes.

Why did my hebe suddenly die?

Nine times out of ten it is drainage. Hebes will not tolerate soil that stays wet, and root rot can take a healthy looking plant in a fortnight. Raise the bed before replanting.