Jacobs Ladder Plant (Polemonium Caeruleum) Profile: Care & Growing Guide

Polemonium caeruleum belongs to Jacob's Ladder Plant family, perennial herbs. Plant height is 30 ~ 50 cm; Stem is erect; Basal leaves are long petiolate; Cauline leaves are alternate, singular pinnate compound leaves, leaflets 11 to 21, ovate-lanceolate, entire. Panicle is terminal; Pedicels and sepals are with glandular hairs; Calyx is campanulate, 5-lobed; Corolla is 5-lobed, blue-purple; Capsule is round. Jacob's Ladder Plant is born in wet grassland, mountain gullies, shrubbery, China's Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and other places are distributed. Jacob's Ladder flower can be used as medicine, has the effect of expectorant, hemostasis, sedation, treatment of acute and chronic bronchitis, gastric ulcer bleeding, cough and so on.

Jacob's Ladder Plant Picture

Jacob's Ladder Plant Info

Botanical Name	Polemonium caeruleum
Common Names	Jacob's Ladder Plant
Plant Type	Herbaceous perennial flower
Sun	Part shade to full shade
Hardiness Zones	3 to 8 (USDA)
Flower color	Mostly blue and purple; white, pink, and yellow cultivars also available
Native Area	Northern Asia, Europe; has naturalized in Eastern North America
Mature size	12 to 24 inches tall; 12- to 24-inches spread

Characteristics of Jacob's Ladder Plant

Jacob's Ladder Plant Rhizome

Jacob's Ladder Plant is a perennial herb, roots prostrate, terete, fibrous. Stems are erect, 0.5-1 m tall, glabrous or pubescent.

Jacob's Ladder Plant Leaf

Jacob's Ladder flower is alternate compound leaves pinnate, lower stem leaves up to 20 cm long, upper stem leaves 7 -- 14 cm long, alternate leaflets, 11 -- 21, ovate to lanceolate, 1.5 -- 4 cm long, 0.5 -- 1.4 cm wide, apex acute or acuminate, base subrounded, entire, pubescent or subglabrous on both sides, without petioles; Petiole is 1.5-8 cm long, proximally long, distally short petiole or sessile, sparsely pubescent or subglabrous with leaf axis.

Jacob's Ladder Plant Flowers

Jacob's Ladder flower is cyme panicle terminal or upper leaf axillary, sparse and many flowers; Pedicels are 3 - 5 (-10) mm long, with pedicels densely short or sparsely long glandular hairs; Calyx is campanulate, 5-8 mm long, short or sparsely glandular-hairy, lobes long ovate, oblong or ovate-lanceolate, apex acute or obtuse, sparsely obtuse, nearly as long as calyx tube; Corolla is purplish-blue, campanulate, 1-1.8 cm long, lobes obovate, apex rounded or occasionally tapering or slightly acute, margin sparsely or densely ciliate or malt accented; Stamens of Jacob's Ladder flower are borne above the base of corolla tube, usually as long as corolla, anthers ovoid, filaments clustered at the base of yellow-white pubescent; Ovary is globose, stigma slightly protruding beyond the corolla. (Read More about Jacobs Ladder Flower.)

Jacob's Ladder Plant Fruit

The capsule of Jacob's Ladder flower is ovate, 5 -- 7 mm long. Seed is brown, fusiform, 3 -- 3.5 mm long, seed coat with expandable mucous cells, membranous dry posteriorly like seeds winged.

Habits of Jacob's Ladder Plant

Jacob's Ladder Plant is born in the elevation of (1000-)1700-3700m hillside grass, valley sparse forest, roadside thickets and stream wetland. 

Jacob's Ladder flower was born on a sunny slope with wet grass.

How to Grow and Care for Jacob's Ladder Plant

Jacob's Ladder Plant Light Requirements

Jacob's Ladder flowers opt for partial or dappled shade. Varieties with darkish inexperienced leaves can manage extra direct solar than the variegated varieties, so lengthy as the soil is stored persistently moist.

Jacob's Ladder Plant Soil Care

Plant Jacob's Ladder flower in loose, rich, well-draining soil that will continue to be moist however now not wet. It is extra fussy about moisture than about soil pH however does pleasant with a rather impartial or barely acidic soil pH.

 Jacob's Ladder Plant Watering

Jacob's Ladder Plant flora that acquires normal watering will bloom longer and continue to be alluring into summer. Water frequently to preserve medium moisture levels, however, keep away from soggy conditions. During dry periods, you might also want to water greater regularly to hold the vegetation lush.

Jacob's Ladder Plant Temperature & Humidity Care

Jacob's Ladder Plant prefers a quite cool summer season climate, and it can succumb to excessive warmness in heat southern gardens. Very humid prerequisites can convey on-leaf spot fungal illnesses or powdery mildew.

Jacob's Ladder Plant Fertilizer

Polemonium caeruleum is a long-lived perennial in the proper prerequisites and if it is fed properly. Give the vegetation a enhance in early spring with a dose of balanced fertilizer as the new increase is emerging. Feed them once more as soon as the dwindled flora has been reducing back.

Jacob's Ladder Plant Pruning

In general, Jacob's Ladder flower requires minimal maintenance. Once the flora end blooming, reduce the flower stalks returned to the plant's base to motivate repeat blooms. If the foliage starts offevolved to appear tattered, it can additionally be reduce returned and cleaned up. A new boom will change the trimmed foliage.

How to Propagate Jacob's Ladder Plant

Grow Jacob's Ladder Plant from Division

Divide mature Jacob's Ladder Plant flowers each and every two to 4 years or they will begin to die out in the center. They divide most without problems and efficaciously in early spring. Carefully elevate and separate the basal rosettes, replant, and water well.

Grow Jacob's Ladder Plant from Seed

If you already have Jacob's Ladder flower, it will self-seed on its personal from seeds dropped from flower heads. You can additionally gather the seeds to replant elsewhere. Jacob's Ladder Plant can be direct seeded in both spring or fall. Loosely cowl the seed with soil, then water. Keep the soil moist, and be positive to mark the spot so that you do now not disturb it.

To begin seed indoors, sow two months earlier than your closing frost date if you favor to transplant in spring, or sow in mid-summer if you prefer to transplant in the fall. The seeds take up to a month to germinate and ought to be stored moist till then. Transplant exterior in spring simply earlier than your ultimate frost date, or in early to mid-fall.

Varieties of Jacob's Ladder Plant

Look for these sorts of Jacob's Ladder Plant for your garden:

Polemonium caeruleum' Album' has white flowers.

P. caeruleum 'Bambino Blue' elements lovely mild blue flowers.

P. caeruleum 'Snow and Sapphires' has variegated leaves and blue flowers; it is truly hardier than the comparable Brise d'Anjou.

P. reptans 'Stairway to Heaven' well-knownshows blue plants on variegated foliage that blushes red in cool weather.

Disease Control of Jacob's Ladder Plant

Jacob's Ladder Plant insect pests are relatively few, if found disease plants should be promptly pulled outburned or buried, at the same time using 50% methyl tobujin 600 times liquid spray, for insect pests, can be used Lesoate control.

Distribution of Jacob's Ladder Plant

Jacob's Ladder Plant is manufactured in several provinces in Northeast China, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Northwest Yunnan.

Jacob's Ladder flower is distributed in temperate Europe, Asia, and North America.