Blue Clitoria is a perennial grown for its fruit. It's hardy across USDA zones 13 through 13. Its flowers are a moderate draw for honeybees and native bees, even though the fruit is the prize. A nitrogen-fixer, it draws nitrogen from the air and feeds it back to the soil — turn it under or leave the roots in place, and the next planting inherits a richer bed.
Blue Clitoria — the short answer
Blue Clitoria: grown in zones 13–13, full sun, pH 4.5–9.
- USDA zones
- 13–13
- Manual horticultural correction (source not retained); NC State Extension and Missouri Botanical Garden, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation
- Soil pH
- 4.5–9
- FAO ECOCROP
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Growable Ground Plant Database
- Frost-kill temp (growing season)
- 30.2°F
- FAO ECOCROP
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS and university Extension sources — each tile names its own row's source, because per-field provenance varies.
Score Blue Clitoria on your exact land.
Zone averages can't see the slope, soil, frost, and sun that decide whether blue clitoria actually takes — and those shift from one yard to the next. Enter your address and we'll score blue clitoria against your land's real conditions.
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What Blue Clitoria is
Blue Clitoria grows as a perennial and reaches around ten feet at maturity.
How to grow Blue Clitoria
Blue Clitoria grows in USDA zones 13 through 13. Blue Clitoria does best in full sun — at least 6 hours of direct sun a day — and soil from pH 4.5 to 9, on well-drained ground. It needs around 3,500 growing degree days to mature, a growing season of at least 50 frost-free days, and about 0 hours of winter chill to set fruit, which is why climate matters as much as soil.
USDA Zones
13-13
USDA PHZM 2023
Soil pH
4.5 - 9
FAO ECOCROP
Sun
Full Sun
Growable Ground plant catalog
Drainage
well (dry spells)
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost Kill Temperature
30.2°F
Where cold starts killing growing tissue. Not a winter-survival floor — a dormant perennial takes far colder, which its hardiness zone answers.
FAO ECOCROP
Minimum Growing Temperature
59°F
Below this it stops growing rather than dies — a pace limit, not a survival limit.
FAO ECOCROP
GDD Required
3500+
Growing degree-days of accumulated warmth it needs to mature — humid summers reach this faster than cool coastal ones.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Mature Height
10 ft
Growable Ground plant catalog
Chill Hours
0+
Winter hours below ~45°F it needs to fruit — too-mild winters can leave it bloom-shy.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Frost-Free Days
50+
The frost-free stretch it needs start to finish — short-season areas may need an indoor head start.
Growable Ground plant catalog
Start the season right
Plant blue clitoria in full sun with at least 6 hours of direct sun, once the soil has warmed and frost risk has passed.
Match the soil
Blue Clitoria prefers pH 4.5 to 9 (FAO ECOCROP). A quick soil test from your local Extension lab tells you whether to add lime or sulfur to land in band. It fixes its own nitrogen, so skip the high-nitrogen feed and instead dust the seed with a matching rhizobium inoculant at sowing.
Water steadily
Keep the root zone evenly moist through establishment. A 2–3 inch mulch layer holds moisture without waterlogging.
Harvest at maturity
Pick when the fruit is full-colored and parts easily from the stem. Local Cooperative Extension guides publish timing tables.
Where Blue Clitoria thrives
Blue Clitoria is hardy across USDA zones 13 through 13. Zone is only the starting point, though: the soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific land decide how well it actually does.
A USDA zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme winter minimum, so zones 13–13 spans average winter lows from 60°F to 70°F (USDA PHZM 2023). Across the 50 states and DC, that band covers none outright but splits 1 down the middle — and which side of that line your land sits on changes the answer.
Zone 13
Where Blue Clitoria grows. USDA's published 2023 PHZM polygons cover the continental US (zones 3a-12a); zones outside that range aren't in the federal map dataset.
Where Blue Clitoria stands, state by state
Blue Clitoria is rated for zones 13–13 — a cold floor USDA puts at 60 to 70°F. Across the 50 states and DC, 0 sit fully inside that band, the line runs through 1 more, and 50 sit outside it — and inside every split state, the same line runs on at county grain.
The line runs through
1 state
- Hawaii · zones 8b-13a
Blue Clitoria’s band covers part of each of these states — which side of the line your county sits on changes the answer, and each state page draws it.
State zone extents: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023. A zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme minimum temperature, so a state that splits the band contains the boundary — its own page draws the county line, and a parcel report resolves which side your land sits on.
What grows around Blue Clitoria
Growing guides for blue clitoria
In rotation planning, blue clitoria counts as a Legume — beds recover best when legume crops don’t follow each other in the same spot year over year. (Growable Ground derivation — crop-rotation group from botanical family)
Good to know
Good news for pet owners — blue clitoria isn't known to be toxic to dogs or cats. (Source: ASPCA.)
Blue Clitoria offers moderate value to bees and other pollinators.
Before you harvest blue clitoria, know your soil
Anything you grow to eat takes up what's in the ground it grows in, so it's worth knowing what's documented near you before you plant blue clitoria for food. Our free screen reads 9 federal source types across roughly 1.8M indexed sites and shows which sit near your address and which way they drain. It's a screening estimate from public records and proximity — not a soil test — so a nearby record means a soil test is worth it, not that your soil is unsafe.
Your land is one point inside Blue Clitoria's range
This page resolves to the species. Your state page draws the county line, and a report reads the parcel — the soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost dates on your exact ground, which no species average can see.
See if Blue Clitoria will thrive on your land
Zone averages are a start. Your exact soil pH, drainage, sun exposure, and frost dates shape whether blue clitoria actually takes — we score it against the real conditions at your address.
Three things about your exact spot that zone averages miss:
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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How we know this about Blue Clitoria
The figures above are cited per row, not per site: the pH band names this plant’s own source column, the three temperature figures each carry their own, and days-to-maturity cites the publication that actually lists it. All of it comes from the Growable Ground Plant Database — a compilation over FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources, published openly with per-field provenance.
Grounded inUSDA PLANTS Database•USDA PHZM•ASPCA
Frequently asked questions
Can I grow Blue Clitoria in my zone?
Blue Clitoria grows in USDA hardiness zones 13 through 13 (USDA PHZM 2023). Zone is one factor — soil pH, drainage, and frost dates on your specific parcel also shape whether it takes.
When should you plant Blue Clitoria?
Most growers plant blue clitoria after the last spring frost, once the soil has warmed, leaving enough of the season for its 50-day frost-free need. Your local frost dates set the exact window — a Growable Ground report reads them for your address.
How much sun does Blue Clitoria need?
Blue Clitoria needs full sun — a spot that catches at least 6 hours of direct summer sun a day. In more shade it still grows, but usually gives a smaller, later crop. The catch is that a yard rarely gets even light everywhere — a fence, the house, or one tall tree can quietly take those hours. A Growable Ground report reads the real sun-hours across your land, canopy and buildings included, so you can pick the brightest bed before you plant.
What soil does Blue Clitoria need?
Blue Clitoria prefers soil pH 4.5 to 9, on well-drained ground (FAO ECOCROP). Your report scores your parcel's actual soil against that using USDA SSURGO data.
Does Blue Clitoria attract pollinators?
Yes — blue clitoria's flowers are a solid nectar source for honeybees and native bees.
Is Blue Clitoria safe for pets?
Blue Clitoria is not known to be toxic to dogs or cats based on available data. Always supervise pets around new plantings. (Source: ASPCA.)