This delightful plant prefers a little afternoon shade, needs well-drained soil, and moderate watering. The most common species is Lithodora diffusa, but there are a few attractive cultivars — 'Grace Ward' and 'Heavenly Blue' — that you may find at your local garden center. Lithodora diffusa 'Grace Ward' is a delicate yet striking plant native to the Mediterranean.

Understanding the Context

It features small, tubular, blue flowers clustered along slender stems that form a mound-like shape. Vigorous and popular, award-winning Lithodora diffusa 'Grace Ward' (Gromwell) is a mat-forming evergreen shrub with trailing stems clothed in small, lance-shaped, dark green, hairy leaves. Lithodora Grace Ward - A spreading, dark green mat of fuzzy leaves is engulfed in true blue star flowers from late Spring through Summer. Excellent as an edger in the perennial border.

Key Insights

The intense blue of Lithodora Grace Ward is spectacular around rocks and landscape boulders. Lithodora diffusa 'Grace Ward' is an easy ground cover with dark green foliage that is topped for long periods in spring and summer with masses of royal blue to cobalt blue flowers. Grace Ward Lithodora (Lithodora diffusa ‘Grace Ward’) is a low-growing groundcover celebrated for its striking, true blue flowers. This evergreen perennial creates a vibrant mat of color from late spring through summer, offering a visual appeal to various garden settings. Lithodora is a small genus of flowering plants but the genus name is also used as the common name for the most popular of the species, Lithodora diffusa.

Final Thoughts

It is a low-growing flowering groundcover that will work well near pathways and around the edges of flower borders as well as in rock gardens. ‘Grace Ward’ is a vigorous popular cultivar featuring deep blue flowers on woody prostrate branches clad with dark green leaves. Differences between this cultivar and the straight species are often minor. No frequently occurring insect or disease problems. Damping off is its primary disease problem. Watch for aphids.

Ground cover.