Plant in full sun to light shade and irrigate infrequently to occasionally. Like other Westringia cultivars this plant is tolerant of most soils so long as they drain and situations including coastal exposure, drought, inland heat, and humidity. Hardy to at least to 25° F and likely a bit lower - possibly to as low as 18° F for short durations. Prune to shape once or twice a year to keep it dense. It can be kept as a smaller shrub and with more regular trimming and makes an excellent compact low hedge to around 3 feet tall - tolerates this pruning treatment far better than the similar and larger cultivar 'Wynyabbie Gem'. With its long blooming period this plant also will make a great landscape specimen in the garden.

Westringia Blue Gem plant comes from the controlled breeding work conducted by University of Sydney's Plant Breeding Institute in October 2005 and was the result of the cross of two unnamed hybrids, Westringia 'x2003.9.1' and W. 'x2003.9.3'. Under the cultivar name 'WES03' it received Plant Breeder's Rights in Australia in May 2013 and US Plant Patent PP25,674 in July 2015.

The name for the genus was given to it by Sir James Edward Smith, an English botanist and founder of the Linnaean Society in 1788 to name honor Dr. Johan Peter Westring (1753-1833), a botanist and physician to King Charles XIII of Sweden who was a student of Linnaeus.

We thought this plant would likely replace Westringia 'Wynyabbie Gem' in our product mix but we continue to grow both and also grow the variegated selection Westringia 'Wynyabbie Highlight' as well as the species Westringia fruticosa and several of its cultivars, including the variegated forms Westringia fruticosa 'Morning Light' and Westringia fruticosa 'Smokey', the low growing Westringia fruticosa Mundi, the even lower growing Westringia fruticosa Low Horizon ['WES06'] and the compact gray Westringia fruticosa Gray Box. 

The information about Westringia Blue Gem ['WES03'] PP25,674 displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.