isn't that gorgeous? i have ordered one from somewhere (forget just where, lol) but haven't gotten the order yet. i'm hoping it will look like the photo, but blue is so difficult to photograph "true", so i will be pleasantly surprised if this veronica does look like the pic. hope so! i love most all veronicas in any case, so if it doesn't i will not mind -- too much!

To my eye, the photos look enhanced in some way. The flowers almost look like they have been painted on, but as stated blue is a hard color to photograph.

With that said, I have a feeling you are still going to be happy with this plant. I haven't seen it in person, but the flower shape is very similar to Veronica 'Georgia Blue' which does appear 'blue' to me. At least when I view it casually in my garden. I haven't actually studied individual flowers to see if they really are true blue. That whole debate drives me crazy at times!

The nice thing about your plant is that the flowers seem to hold their heads up whereas Georgia Blue has mainly droopy flowers. It's still nice, but your plant looks nicer.

Kevin

Thanks for the input. I have not ordered this plant yet but I am considering getting it. It would just be nice to know what to expect.

The way these things go, I generally assume that when a plant is called "blue" it probably is really purple.
Sometimes purple is nice regardless (I like my 'Blue Fortune' agastache and 'Sentimental blue' platycodon even though I don't think either of them is a true blue). However, I find it very annoying when places seem to be intentionally misleading like using altered photos.

Just to confirm...this particular 'Speedwell' bloom duration is spring time?

I just picked up two of these plants...not sure where I will put them but I will try to squeeze them in somewhere. (I guess I have missed their flowering this year).

There are several prostrate, very true blue species from Veronica genus. Some of them are noxious annual weeds in lawns and fields here in Denmark.

I just received a plant of this but alas it looks like it won't be ready to bloom until next year. (From what the info online says, May is its usual bloom time)
If it stays alive, I will try to remember to let you know what it looks like next year. :)
In the meantime, if anyone knows more about this cultivar, please let us know if it really is blue!

Several websites say that 'Veronica Tidal Pool' is identical to 'Veronica whitleyi'.

From google it sounds like V. whitleyi is a purple, not a true blue. Are you saying that you think Tidal Pool is purple?
If it does turn out to be purple, hopefully it'll still be pretty, but I would find it disappointing if it turns out those photos of the plant are misleading people about what its real color is.

I am just saying that it isnt difficult to find a web reference stating that V. 'Whitleyi' and V. 'Tidal Pool' are one in the same plant.

UPDATE:

I have 3 TP planted this past summer and all three are strongly evergreen at this late date in December.

The picture below has greenery poking through the snow.

Well, as long as we're comparing photos of "Veronica in the Snow" - here's 'Georgia Blue' today. Granted it doesn't look the happiest, but it is still green and this is after many nights in the single digits. Right now it's 17 F.

Kevin

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So Kevin, how does your 'Georgia Blue' look as of April? (Btw, your Dec 24 picture doesn't show for me).

I am still very surprised by this same 'Tidal Pool' that I posted about back on Christmas Eve. Here it is today. It had been under about 4 feet of snow for nearly 8 weeks. And it is only this week that I finally see it in its entirety (2.5 ft in diameter) and it looks so healthy. I look forward to seeing those neon blue flowers for the first time.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Wed, Apr 10, 13 at 21:40

I bought one of these this year and put it in the ground last week. I guess I don't have much hope of it blooming this year, from what this thread indicates. Man, I'm really not the patient gardener when it comes to first-year blooms or second. Instant grat, please!

Sorry, I deleted that earlier photo of Georgia. I took another photo yesterday (before our expected snow storm) and it looks terrible.

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Maybe the combo of last years drought and our nasty winter? I don't know, but I sure hope it survives.

Kevin

Is V. 'Tidal Pool' blooming for anyone yet and if so, can you report on flower color?

Also, the photos I've seen make the foliage look thicker than that of V. 'Georgia Blue.' How does it compare if you have seen both?

'babs', my 3 plants look so healthy and green and large but no flowers yet. I will post pictures as soon as they appear en masse.

hmmmm, those creeping speedwells make me very nervous - I have various weedy types afflicting my allotment. Have had a few veronica austriacus ( maybe Crater Lake Blue) which have been reliably cheerful and well-behaved.

Mine also survived the winter but no sign of blooms yet. I'll let everyone know if it does anything interesting.

Mine are starting to bloom this week. The picture does not get the colour correct. It is almost neon blue.

This plant forms a very dense mat and it grows to a much larger diameter than I expected. It is very winter hardy and it has been my experience in this past harsh winter that it is evergreen.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Tue, May 21, 13 at 5:26

Thanks! Looks like a really nice plant.

Tidal Pool definitely does seem like it's not a first year plant, that's for sure. Seems like you've got to put at least one season in before you see any results out of this one.

I took a pic of something else last week, but I noticed my Tidal Pool was in the edge of the frame, so I zoomed in on it to borrow the image for this post (pouring down rain here for two days, so no way to grab a fresh pic!) It will do for these purposes. Please forgive me for not being more focused on the subject in the pic.

Tidal Pool is the tiny little tuft of nothing you see to the right of the nice flourishing other two plants! The other two, funny enough, are Veronica Goldwell. They are absolutely flourishing, growing like crazy! They've only been in the ground for a month, but have doubled and are blooming like mad. I decided to place them in this much more visible area and move Tidal Pool a bit later when the rains let up some to an area that it can take it's time showing me what it's made of and won't be an eyesore for this year. Tidal Pool has been planted for two months now and has shown itself to seem to stay healthy, but no or minimal growth so far.

Of course, if I remember correctly, Goldwell doesn't bloom as long as Tidal Pool, but it has bright yellow and green variagated leaves and will look great when not in bloom, also. As for Tidal Pool, looks like patience is a virtue.

'funn'. that "Tidal Pool" is planted way to close to to the "Veronica Goldwell". I planted my first very small TP last June and by October it was about 18" across! I have no doubt it can easily get to 2' in diameter this summer. (I will need to move a hardy geranium due to TP's vigorous growth).

Yep, I know, that's why I was saying in the earlier post that I was planning to move the Tidal Pool when the rain let up. The Goldwells are basically taking the place of the Tidal Pool in this area. The Tidal Pool will be moved to an area that I don't want instant results.

Large and blooming in the second season is pretty good!

It's nearly one year later and I just found this thread. This Veronica 'Tidal Pool' looks exactly like Veronica Whitleyi, which I have been growing for several years, but for which I can find no documentation online. Perhaps it has been re-named. I bought it as a plant from a mail order company, maybe Dominion Seed House, and it stays quite small for a couple of years and then it takes off. It winds it way around things, is evergreen, and the flowers are true blue. It forms a nice mat in my rock garden. Forget about it, and will perfom just fine. This is not a very good pic. - early in the season. It will bloom all summer.
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perhaps the jury is still out another year later on this plant. Mine has not done well, nor has it ever bloomed. It has become smaller and I do believe will give up the ghost entirely, probably this summer. I am VERY disappointed. Don't know if I shall bother buying again next year....

So..... I’m thinking about planting Veronica tidal pool on a hill in my front yard that is currently covered in daffodils and in the fall, spider-lilies. In the in between season ( summer) the hill is basically covered in pine straw and spent ( yellow) greenery left over from the daffodils. I would like to have a garden of cut flowers like cone flowers, zinnias, ranunculus, and others, relying heavily on perennials. So my final product would be daffodils- cut flowers- spider-lilies. Then possibly some puddles of color for the winter with pansies.
Here’s the question—- what do y’all think ( or know) about perennials and bulb flowers being able to find their way up through this ground cover? I do not want to snuff them out. I’d like this to be a ever-green base for them so I can quit the pine straw ( yuck). Thanks!! Also, any suggestions are welcome. (This photo is as I drive out of my driveway. ) The hill I’m referring to is on the right.

Where are you located?

One easy to locate plant that plays well with others, does well in conditions that range from full sun to almost entirely shade, and is evergreen is Veronica Georgia Blue, but I don’t know if it does as well everywhere as it does here in central NH. The dying bulb foliage will smother some groundcovers and VGB won’t compete well if the bulb foliage flops on top of it. Many flowering perennials won’t be happy either to have their emerging foliage smothered by dying bulb foliage IME.

From the Breeder at Chicago Botanic Garden. ( see website).

This hybrid prostrate speedwell was selected from a cross made at the Chicago Botanic Garden in 2007 between Veronica armena and Veronica pectinata ‘Rosea’, two already popular prostrate speedwells. This selection seems to have inherited the best traits from both parents: it's denser and faster spreading than either parent, with small oaklike leaves that are medium green with a faint silvery-blue cast from its slight pubescence. The plants cover themselves with medium to deep blue-violet flowers from late April into mid-May. The rest of the growing season, they settle into attractive groundcovers that seem to handle cold, heat, humidity, rain, and drought equally well.

Mine in zone 4b sandy alkaline soil but with regular irrigation in year two is spreading rapidly. It seems to growin early spring and late fall. It is a between cobalt blue and sailor blue when in bloom. I am hoping it will be a weed suppressing ground cover under various herbaceous perennial flowers ( Echinaceae, Liatris, Asclepias, etc.

Are you sure CBG above is referring to Tidal Pool? I ask because this is an old, long thread and a few different veronicas were discussed. Just checking.....

Yes. I googled it Because I was sure it was a hybrid. Check out the website. Tidal pool is what I bought two plants of from a nursery Last summer It’s spreading quite a bit, esp. this fall although we’ve now had snow and ate going into winter dormancy. I am counting on it as a ground over that will be shaded out by taller perennials where necessary.