Hi: I grew about a dozen different types of statice this year as I use lots of it in bouquets. The pacific strain midnight blue is a nice darker purple/blue and the heavenly blue (lighter, kind of powder blue, but a beautiful true blue--maybe lighter than you are looking for) are a couple of my favorites. I also have grown the turbo series dark blue and purple, and they are good vibrant blues and purples. good luck.
maplea

Hi Iris2sun
I've only grown the QIS series mix and soft pastel shades. That way I get everything. The QIS has a Dark Blue and a Sky Blue (listed as Pale Blue with Geo) in the colours, so you'd be safe with either one of those. Not sure which one it is, but one of them really is Blue.
If you have limited space, think about planting some perennials that are blue, such as Veronica or Caryopteris.
Cheers Kim
Billabong Fresh Flower Farm

Thanks for your suggestions re types of blue statice to plant.

Kim, you also suggested looking at Veronica. I was looking at Armitage's Speciality Cut Flower Book and he recommends both the Longifolia & Spicata species. Which blue/blue purple cultivars do you like the best?

Thanks again for your feedback.

First I grew from seed was Veronica Spicata "Sightseeing" mixed. Last year I bought plugs of Veronica Longifolia "Sunny Border Blue" and I got to compare them this year. The Sunny Border Blue is exceptional, the plants and flower stems are much more robust than Sightseeing, it's still blooming now and the colour is awesome. It also seems to be more productive than "Sightseeing". I have learnt though that the stems fall over so next year the row gets support netting. So my vote is Longifolia over Spicata. Hope that helps.
Cheers Kim
Billabong Fresh Flower Farm

Kim,
Thanks for your suggestion re the Veronica Sunny Border Blue. Based on the photographs on the web, Sunny Border Blue looks like the blue color I want. The plant sounds wonderful; low maintenance, long bloom time & great cut flower. I've been looking for Sunny Border Blue seed in catalogs, but haven't found it yet. Did you order plugs because seed wasn't available? Are there companies that sell plugs in small quantities?

I'm fairly sure that Sunny Border blue is "Longifolia" in the seed catalogues. "Sunny Border Blue" is the name they gave it to sell to garden center customers. I got plugs because they just happened to be available when I was looking for something else. Check out the availability listings for 'Gro 'N Sell' www.gro-n-sell.com/printAvail.php3
'Swift Greenhouses'
www.swiftgreenhouses.com/50-Availability.pdf
'C. Raker & Sons'
www.raker.com/raker/Availability
To purchase from these guys you'll have to use a broker like 'Germania' or some other conmpany and of course there's a minimum order fee (normally around $200) but it's worth it.

Cheers Kim
Billabong Fresh Flower Farm