Trachystemon orientalis Care

Trachystemon orientalis, commonly known as Abraham-Isaac-Jacob, is a perennial herb of the family Boraginaceae. Native to eastern Europe, it is frequently grown as an ornamental for its early blue-violet flowers and large leaves.

Trachystemon orientalis, commonly known as early-flowering borage, is a tough, rhizomatous, shade-loving, weed-smothering, perennial ground cover that is native from Bulgaria to the Caucasus and Turkey. Pendant, borage-like, white-throated, bluish-purple flowers (each to 1/2” wide) bloom in early spring (March-April) in loose-branched panicles located atop branched, hairy, pink-tinted flowering stems rising to 18” tall. Flowers bloom at a time when the foliage is just beginning to develop. Flowers have tubular corollas with five spreading to slightly reflexed petals. Large, coarsely-textured, long-petioled, heart-shaped, bristly-hairy, overlapping, medium to dark green basal leaves (each to 12” long) typically mature to full size after flowering has finished to form a dense but attractive foliage mat rising to 18” tall but spreading over time to 24” wide or more.