Monday, June 2, 2014

What is in bloom in blue?



A few blue flowers are open just now at Roche Fleurie, more if you stretch blue to include bluish purple. Blue is a very flexible colour that mixes well with most others.


Mertensia virginica - Virginia Bluebells



Very neat gardeners find forget-me-nots too aggressive, but the plant is one of my favourite because it is so easy to control and so useful in the garden. Its best feature is that is creates a thread that links different areas together. It can also pull together a series of plants that have very little in common. It looks very good associated with pink and with yellow.






This little columbine is unusual in that the flowers often face up rather than down. I grew it from seeds of Rocky Mountain columbine (Aquilegia saximontana), but it might be an hybrid as columbines crossbreed a lot.

Rocky Mountain columbine


Phlox subulata tends to be from white to purple, but it is sometimes is bluish.


Phlox subulata

Some Clematis alpina are bluer than mine which tends more towards the purple.

Clematis alpina

Blue is very much an iris colour. Many blue irises are still to open. The only blue we have at the moment  is an Iris pumila hybrid that is almost over and a white iris with blue falls.

Iris pumila




Miniature dwarf iris hybrid





 We have two blue creeping speedwells. 'Waterperry' is pale blue.

Creeping speedwell 'Waterperry''


'Georgia Blue' ,however, has rich cobalt blue flowers.

Creeping speedwell 'Georgia Blue'

I would have ended with Centaurea montana, which is in bloom now, but I do not have a picture and it is pouring rain - a welcome rain after two weeks of strong sunshine.

15 comments:

  1. Your 'blue'mers are so pretty :)

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  2. I like the blue colour in shady spots, I think it suits there :)

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    1. I suppose blue being the cool colour 'par excellence', it is not surprising it looks good in the shade.

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  3. You do have plants tucked into rocky nooks!

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    1. Don't forget Joanne that the garden is called Roche Fleurie (French for Blooming Rocks). We really are on the rock but it is interesting how many plants do well on rocks!

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  4. Blue is such a wonderful colour in the garden, my favourite! Forget me nots mix so well with everything, they should be in every garden!

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  5. I had a bit of a surprise looking at your phlox photo as I believe it is the exact same one I just posted about in my garden. Have a look and let me know.
    The blue columbine is very sweet, and such a nice shade of blue too.

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    1. It is the very same variety but yours is much bluer than mine. It is interesting how colour can vary within a variety. Last Sunday I saw (in Waterloo county) some of these phloxes in the wild (never touched by man). The colour went from white to dark pink.

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  6. We have quite a lot of blue flowers at the moment, some extra to those you mention we have lithodora, various campanula (creeping and tall growing), omphalodes and clematis

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  7. I'm a big fan of blue flowers. We're a couple weeks ahead of you, so our blue flowers right now are mainly baptisia, roof iris, and nepeta.

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  8. Nice bluebells, Alain! I should plant them in my garden too. I have some blue salvias and cornflowers.
    Have a nice day!

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  9. I love forget-me-nots too. Such a gorgeous shade of blue. Amsonia adds a nice blue at this time of year.

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    1. I have Amsonia that should bloom for the first time this year. I look forward to it.

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