Blue Emu Bush

Eremophila hygrophana

About the Plant

Blue emu bush is a recent addition to the nursery trade. You will often see this plant listed as 'Blue Bells', sometime with single quotes indicating it is a cultivar, sometimes as a trademarked™ name.

This evergreen (evergray?) shrub from Western Australia has large, showy purple flowers, heavily in spring and sporadically the rest of the year. The silvery foliage makes a nice contrast with other plants all of the year and may remind you of the leaf and flower color of some Texas rangers.

Grow the small shrub (it grows to about 3 ft x 3 ft) in full sun and well-drained soil. Nursery websites suggest watering this plant only once a week in the heat of the summer, less in cooler weather, especially if it is growing in heavier soils. Let it keep its naturally neat, rounded form. It only needs pruning to remove frost-damaged branches if the temperatures go below 17 degrees F.

Wildlife value: definitely attracts bees. Said to also attracts hummingbirds and large butterflies.

More Information

Horticultural information from ASU

Map of distribution in Australia

ID Characteristics

This plant is in the Scrophulariaceae - the figwort family.
Blue emu bush is a rounded, low shrub that grows to about 3 ft x ft, though a few references suggest it can grow to a width of 5 ft.
The leaves of blue emu bush, at least on the 'Blue Bells' selection, are lance-shaped, about an inch long. The leaves are sessile and alternate. Both the leaves and stems are densely covered with hairs that make them soft and fuzzy.
Blue emu bush has large, showy flowers, more purple than blue. Each flower has 5 petals, initially fused, but then separating and flaring outward, 2 up and 3 down. Each flower is about an inch long and wide.
The fruit is a hairy capsule.