A group of hybrids deriving from C. incana × mongolica, of which the typical and original clone is:
'Arthur Simmonds'
This hybrid was raised in the garden of the late Arthur Simmonds at West Clandon in Surrey. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, pointed, rounded at the base, entire or with a few teeth, 1 to 2 in. long, dull green and wrinkled above, covered with close silvery down beneath. Flowers of a lovely bright blue, especially the much-exposed anthers and corolla lobes.
Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 75.On the whole this can probably be rated as the most attractive in the genus and it is evidently quite hardy near London, flowering abundantly in September. It makes a shapely, rounded, soft-wooded bush growing 2 ft high. It received an Award of Merit at Vincent Square, 12th September 1933. It sets seed freely but the seedlings are not necessarily as hardy or such good garden plants as the parent. This and the other forms below should be pruned hard in spring.
'Ferndown'
Leaves dark green and the flowers too of a deeper colour than in ‘Arthur Simmonds’. Raised by Messrs Stewart, Ferndown Nurseries, Dorset.
'Heavenly Blue'
Habit more erect and compact than in ‘Arthur Simmonds’; of American origin.
'Kew Blue'
A seedling from ‘Arthur Simmonds’ with flowers of a darker blue, raised at Kew about 1945. It has been distributed to the trade.
