Skip to main content

Backyard Nature Wednesday: Garden blues

Blue is not a common color in my garden. The garden's palette bends more to the red/orange/yellow spectrum. It just gives added importance to the blues that the garden does have.
Blues like Evolvulus Blue Daze, now in bloom.

The plant is an evergreen subshrub that grows in a low spreading mound not more than one foot tall and at this time of year the mound is covered in these dainty flowers.


One of my most reliable blue bloomers is the blue plumbago that continues its flowering throughout the hottest, driest days of summer and into fall. In fact, in this time of mild winters, my plants have not been out of bloom since last spring.

At this time of year, of course, there are a few bluebonnets gracing my Texas garden.

It is, after all, our state flower. This lupine, along with paintbrush, coreopsis, and other native plants make our roadsides look like colorful patchwork quilts in spring. (Thank you, Lady Bird Johnson.)

Salvias (sages) are a proven source of blue that leans toward purple, like this 'Mystic Spires' salvia.

This salvia even has blue in its name. It is 'Black and Blue,' another very dependable source of blue in the garden palette. 

Of course, most dependable of all is the bottle tree. Always blue, always in bloom.

Labels:

Comments

  1. rusty duckMarch 30, 2016 at 3:59 AM

    I've been trying to get Salvia 'Black and Blue' to overwinter but absolutely no success, even with cuttings. I shall just have to resign myself to having it as an annual :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMarch 30, 2016 at 9:12 AM

      Like so many of my plants, mine bloomed off and on throughout our just ended "winter," but it is certainly worthwhile growing it as an annual. In addition to adding blue to the garden palette, it is also a great favorite with pollinators.

      Delete
  2. CarmenMarch 30, 2016 at 8:12 AM

    Refreshing to see blooms in other colors. These look lovely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMarch 30, 2016 at 9:13 AM

      Blue is always a refreshing color. I need to get more of it into my garden.

      Delete
  3. Judy KruegerMarch 30, 2016 at 11:32 AM

    Blue is my favorite color, has been since I was a tiny girl. But sometimes hard to find in flowers. I have a blue plumbago, it is my most forgiving shrub. I also love a blue bearded iris but I am hopeless with bulbs since I moved to CA. I look at them in other people's yards! By the way, those little white iris plants you posted about recently: mine went crazy this weekend. They make me happy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMarch 30, 2016 at 11:50 AM

      Lots of the blue available to gardens comes through bulbs, but, like you, I have just about zero luck with bulbs. Salvias are always my "go-to" plant for any color since they come in just about any color in the rainbow and they are very forgiving.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousMarch 30, 2016 at 4:10 PM

    Very interesting, thank you for this

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...
19 comments
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...
24 comments
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters!  Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...
6 comments
Read more