Quaker-ladies

Year-round

Bluets are tiny, low-care plants that like sun to part shade and little competition.

• They take full sun, part shade, or dappled light, in loam, sand, or rocky soil with good drainage.
• They stay 3 to 6 inches tall and wide, so give them a bare patch, a path edge, or a lawn spot with little competition.
• Rated low maintenance, with no serious insect or disease problems reported.
• Plants seed out and form colonies, which is how you get a bigger patch.

A low, edged patch along a path reads as intentional rather than a lawn gap.

Fall

Fall is quiet, with seed and division as the only jobs.

• Plants spread by seed, so leave bare gaps open if you want colonies to fill in.
• Division is another way to propagate, if you want to move a clump.

Winter

Winter needs nothing from you, since this plant is hardy to a cold zone.

• It is listed hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9, so no winter protection is called for.
• Low maintenance, so there is no cutting back task.

Spring

Spring is bloom and transplant time.

• Blooms come in spring and summer, and one plant's bloom lasts about three weeks in late spring.
• Spring rosettes can be transplanted, and clumps can be divided.
• Seed-grown plants flower in their second year.

Summer

In summer, bluets need little beyond keeping rivals from crowding them out.

• They tolerate average, dry, or wet soil and are listed as drought tolerant.
• Keep taller plants and thick weeds from crowding the low clumps.
• Rated low maintenance, so there is no regular summer task.