Debra, so do I! Heucheras were the best thing I've come up with so far. The two do look nice and mine bloom together but I'm with you...out of bloom, it's a yawn! My planting is in a narrow part of a bed so I don't have much room to add anything behind the spiderwort. Wish I could help you but I am drawing a blank too. Maybe what we both need is some long blooming annuals interspersed to pick up the slack like tall ageratum or pansies right now. Hope someone else has ideas!

I don't have the combination...yet..but someone told me to try Spiderwort with yellow hollyhocks!

My purple spiderwort lives in a bed of white siberian iris. The irises and spiderwort bloom together and the spiderwort continues to add color thru out the season.

I grew spiderwaort for 10 yrs.put white geraniums in front most years&had purple iris in back and gladyolies in back. iris's bloomed first with spiderwort then gladys did latter.I had purple spiderwort.spread it all over the yard.is an invasive plant.ever wanna get rid of some i will take it:) didn't take any when moved.:(

Its near lambs ear in my garden and looks good ..most of the other plants there are white ..wild rose, yarrow,blue bachelor botton and red poppies.

found some growing in ditch down road from where i recently moved....have moved to yard.I did a ring around oak tree and added some babys breath& catmint& torch lillys(orange thinggys)I seen a pictue on web shots of this combonation...sorry did not save picture but was awesomeput some on back side of pond with yellow cannas in back on sides and will have 2 charles g burgmansias and 2 dr suess burgmansias.been filling stones in with violets around front side.
added some with tiger lillys around posts of swing arbor with hamock has yellow cannnas on backside too

Forget-Me-Nots in Spiderwort.

Does it definitely need companion plants to justify planting it in a bed? I'm looking for something that looks and feels like a giant iris, that is not a giant iris. Tall, good blooms. It needs to be a nice specimen plant--it's got the point on a teardrop-shaped bed all to itself. Would spiderwort acquit itself in this respect?

Anybody have any pictures they could post of a mature spiderwort--the whole plant, not just the bloom?

I have rununculus repens pleniflorus(creeping buttercup)in front of mine.I like the blue and yellow combination.
One of the light yellow coreopsis would also work.

This is off the subject of companion plants. My spiderwort has gotten so tall it is falling over. Should I stake it? What happens if the plant gets mowed down, will it come back next year? Thanks

lillybeth, they're kinda floppy by nature once they've bloomed- I deadhead them in july or so, and that helps them stay upright when I stand them back up- I don't stake them, but I stand them up, and mound mulch around the bases, and it works pretty well for me.

and yes, they're perennial, and on the 'weed' end of vigorous, so if you mow them down, they will indeed come back

Foam flower

Someone suggested nepeta, and it is very pretty near spiderwort. I think white makes the purple ones pop, so I have nepeta near the blue spiderworts and white hydrangeas and white variegated hostas behind the purple spiderworts. Because I am in the south, I have to plant my spiderworts in partial shade, so the hydrangeas and hostas may not work for you, but I highly recommend white plants of some kind.

After the first flush of bloom when they get leggy and ugly, cut them back. They'll put out again and bloom nicely again. I have them with daylilies. They need a strong companion that can compete.

last year, I asked the question 'what is this weird plant with the stunning tri-cornered purple blooms' that were growing amongst the ditch lillies in the back yard I jsut bought (it came with the house;)

this year, I moved spiderwort, lillies, and several clumps of old purple flags to the front bed. they love the sun, they can spread all they like and not choke anything else...

and they seem to be going well together. I've got dead nettle in front of them, and some white creeping phlox, and the yellow hollyhocks sound like a good idea

I know this is an ANCIENT thread but I just stumbled across it when I was looking for good pics of different types of Spiderwort. I usually post on the Butterfly Forum.

I have a whole mess of Spiderwort along a long fence row. It was a few plants at first about 12 years ago, which were "migrants" from my neighbor's yard. In that time, they have spread and filled in beautifully. They put on a great display around Passover/Easter, and look great with large patches of Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) in front of them. Admittedly, I didn't plant either one of those. They just showed up serendipitously, and I've just kind of tended to them. Maybe that's why they do so well... I don't fuss over them at all, and the SW is native to my area. And, the butterflies and bees really seem to love it!

Does anyone know where I can find white Spiderwort? I know that it's usually purple or pink, but I saw pictures of white SW from I believe South or Central Texas. I'd love to have some just because it's so different and pretty.

Megan
:)

I never trim back my spiderwort and it still blooms like crazy. I've got mine with siberian and tall bearded iris. It looks sharp next to feather grass too.

White spiderwort: Osprey
http://www.hort.net/gallery/view/com/traos/

I've got one called Clifford's Good Morning which is white with a purple/lavender blush.

:) and they're back again this year...

man, do those things SPREAD! "invasive" is not understating things in the least! I'm now glad that I moved them to a bed bounded on 4 sides by sidewalk.

went out an BOUGHT a variety with chartreuse leaves, and as that clump matures, will alternate it with the normal ones.

this year, I'm trying them with some annuals in front (verbena 'blue obsession' and purple alyssum) and a this silver thing that looks like an upright sort of artemesia behind them. wanted black and white hollyhocks, but not a one of them survived the winter, drat it!

I have mine planted amid Coreopsis and Purple Coneflowers. The contrast is lovely and they do quite well in harmony with one another. I also have a front border of Dwarf Irises; dark purple and lemon yellow (early spring bloomers) that compliment the spiderwort's beautiful, blue/purple blooms. Mine bloom early May and continue through September and early October.

I am trying out the electric light heuchura I think its called, the yellow really does go well with it, and I was also thinking of the golden bleeding heart.