Veronica austriaca ssp.tauricum 'ROYAL BLUE' Austrian speedwell
Veronica
The genus Veronica belongs among the most numerous and the most diverse groups of flowering plants of the temperate zone. It includes several hundred species distributed almost worldwide, from alpine meadows and forest understories to dry steppes and coastal rocks. It was described in the 18th century by Carl Linnaeus, who adopted an already established name linked to the legend of Saint Veronica. The legend says that she offered Christ a piece of cloth during his arduous journey to Golgotha, with which he wiped sweat and blood off his face. His image was said to have miraculously imprinted itself on the fabric, the so‑called vera icon, or “true image”. This idea of a faithful, unembellished imprint of reality was symbolically transferred in pre‑modern botany to speedwells, whose small, clearly drawn flowers were perceived as honest and needing no adornment.
Austrian speedwell is a native Central European species originating from the regions of present‑day Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, and the Balkans. Its natural habitat lies on dry, sun‑exposed slopes, rocky steppes, and forest‑steppe landscapes that were shaped for centuries by grazing, mowing, and traditional land use, giving rise to open habitats rich in steppe flora. Its origin is estimated to date back to the post‑glacial period some 10,000–12,000 years ago, and it still marks landscapes shaped over millennia, where human presence faded in and out, and care was never required. Where such landscapes disappear today, the plant vanishes from the wild, too, finding refuge instead in maintained gardens and urban plantings, where its ease of cultivation and tolerance of poorer soils, limited or no irrigation, and complete neglect are particularly valued. Although a number of attractive cultivars now exist, it has retained the character of a humble, unassuming perennial that bridges the wild nature of its original home with domestic plantings that often seek to echo these landscapes.
Royal Blue is a renowned cultivar of Austrian speedwell distinguished by its intensely deep blue flowers and rather low growth. It blooms from late May into June, typically for several weeks, producing upright, spike‑like inflorescences densely packed with flowers in a rich, clear shade of blue. The flowers open progressively upwards and are attractive to butterflies and other pollinators. The foliage is broadly oval to heart‑shaped, conspicuously serrated along the margins, fresh green and glossy, remaining decorative throughout the growing season. The plant forms dense clumps reaching around 20 cm in height and, in borders or rock gardens, creates a nest‑like habit with a green centre and flowers carried around the edges. The cultivar received the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) from the Royal Horticultural Society during the perennial trials of the early 1990s, in recognition of its long‑term reliability, balanced growth, and quality of flowering under garden conditions.
Austrian speedwell is an undemanding and long‑lived perennial. It performs best in full sun and well‑drained, rather dry soils, and reacts poorly to prolonged waterlogging, particularly in winter. The only intervention that benefits its appearance rather than its actual growth is cutting the entire clump back to ground level immediately after flowering; this rejuvenates the plant and ensures that, for the rest of the growing season, the garden is left not with a tired, spent clump but with a neat, dense mound of small, fresh green leaves. It is reliably hardy to at least −34 °C (USDA zone 4), allowing it to overwinter without difficulty even in colder parts of Central Europe. Cultivation in containers is possible, provided excellent drainage and a predominantly mineral substrate are used; containers should be placed in a sheltered, dry position to prevent the root ball from becoming waterlogged during winter.
Last update 27-02-2015; 27-12-2025
