Dragon's head

From LoveToKnow Garden

Dragons-head (Dracocephalum) - Plants of the Sage family, among them a few choice perennials suitable for the rock garden or the mixed border, succeeding in light garden soil and increased by division or seed. D. altaiense has bright green leaves, and axillary clusters of large tubular flowers of a dense Gentian-like blue, spotted with red in the throat. D. austriacum has flower-stems nearly 1 foot in height, densely covered with rich purple blossoms; D. Ruyschianum, a handsome species, has narrow Hyssop-like leaves and purplish-blue flowers, but its variety japonicum, a new introduction from Japan, is even more showy. D. peregrinum, with pretty blue flowers always produced in pairs, is desirable and so is D. argunense, which is a variety of D. Ruyschianum. The most beautiful of all is D. grandiflorum, a rock garden plant, which is the earliest in flower. It is very dwarf, and has large clusters of intensely blue flowers, which scarcely overtop the foliage. In D. speciosum, a Himalayan species, the small deep purple flowers are nearly smothered by the large green bracts.