The Blue Carpet Veronica, otherwise known as the Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ or Withe Rod Brandywine™, Smooth Witherod Brandywine™, American Withe Rod Brandywine™, Possumhaw Brandywine™, Viburnum nudum ‘Bulk’, is a rather well known shrub plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and moderate growth, this shrub will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Blue Carpet Veronica is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Blue Carpet Veronica Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The fundamental caring guidelines for every Blue Carpet Veronica can be summed up into the following:
- Water: The Blue Carpet Veronica needs evenly spread moist soil – try to avoid letting the soil dry out.
- Light: Keep your Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ in an environment where it can receive partial to full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Blue Carpet Veronica in soil with moist but well-draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand, loam, and clay.
And that’s practically it! If you keep these three factors in check, your Blue Carpet Veronica will likely have all it needs for it to survive and even thrive.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Blue Carpet Veronica belongs to the Viburnaceae family, the genus Viburnum and the species Nudum, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ (veh-RON-ih-ka spi-KAH-tuh).
As with other Viburnum’s, the Blue Carpet Veronica is a herbaceous plant, which means it will die back to the ground every year.
Growing Region
As a rule of thumb, we recommend to always keep in mind your plants’ native region and environment, since these are the conditions that your Blue Carpet Veronica is most accustomed to, thus where it can most favorably.
With this in mind, the Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ will be most used to regions where the plant hardiness level falls between 5a, 6b, 6a, 7b, 7a, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Blue Carpet Veronica is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But, how big does the Blue Carpet Veronica actually get? What should you expect in terms of size? Let’s dive right in…
The Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ can grow up to 5′ – 6′ (150cm – 180cm) in 5′ – 6′ (150cm – 180cm) and 5′ – 6′ (150cm – 180cm) in 5′ – 6′ (150cm – 180cm).
These dimensions make the Blue Carpet Veronica a relatively large shrub compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
Also, expect it to grow in a wonderful compact shape, which is something worthwhile to remember when making your garden landscape plans.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 72″ – 84″ (180cm – 210cm) free so the Blue Carpet Veronica can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Blue Carpet Veronica is a fairly complicated plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a not so straightforward watering schedule and somewhat irregular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ needs evenly spread moist soil – try to avoid letting the soil dry out.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively average needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Blue Carpet Veronica in soil with moist but well-draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, moist, and occasionally wet properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Blue Carpet Veronica then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Blue Carpet Veronica needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Blue Carpet Veronica prefers to have soil with good drainage, moist, and occasionally wet properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand, loam, and clay.
This is why most experts agree that the Blue Carpet Veronica requires soil with clay, loam (silt), and sand, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably neutral to acid soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Blue Carpet Veronica requires partial to full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this shrub will do well as long as you keep it in partial to full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ in little to partial shade (only 2-6 hours of direct sunlight a day), to full and direct sun (more 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being a herbaceous plant, the Blue Carpet Veronica will die back to the ground every year.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the summer (early, mid, late), and during the fal.
Flowers
You can expect your Blue Carpet Veronica to flower around the spring months from April to June (spring).
In particular, this shrub is well known for its flowers for cutting and showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Blue Carpet Veronica produces some beautiful violet-blue, or cream/tan and white flowers around this time of year
Foliage
The leaves from the Blue Carpet Veronica have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a simple arrangement with a opposite organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ to be around (3-6 inches) in size.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Blue Carpet Veronica is well known for being able to attract butterflies and birds, so keep that in mind when choosing your plant, as you’ll likely end up finding one or another in your garden.
Additionally, it has a special tolerance for animals like deer, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ will be fine.
Garden
How should you then organize your garden to include your new Blue Carpet Veronica? Here are some recommendations by expert gardeners.
Most Veronica Spicata ‘Blue Carpet’ owners agree that this shrub will look great in most mediterranean, cottage and rustic gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of informal and cottage, and in prairie and meadow styles.
In particular, the Blue Carpet Veronica’s best location within your garden is in hedges and screens, beds and borders, and in ponds and streams, others use it for landscaping in a container, mass planting, border, cutting garden, or a rock garden.
Conclusion
And we’ve come to an end. Fortunately, that’s everything you need to know about your Blue Carpet Veronica to keep it safe and sound in your garden or home. Enjoy planting!
