True Blue, Baby, I Love You....

  

i think i speak for the great majority of gardeners when i say that we are constantly looking for blue flowers. Real clear blue - not purple, not bluish purple, not violet - BLUE. Unfortunately, there aren't many fitting that classification!

                    Grape Hyacinths(Muscari "Valerie Finnis ")

When you read many plant catalogs, they will describe ALL the Grape Hyacinths as a "Clear Blue!" color, but i don't understand it - they are very definitely PURPLE! Just like in the photo below (and even looking all over the 'net for this picture, almost all varieties were shown - as blue). Valerie Finnis is the only one i've found that REALLY is blue.

There are two blue flowered plants i have not yet succeeded with - one is the Himalayan Blue Poppy (Meconopsis), which really wants the cool, moist summers of the Pacific Northwest, and the Corydalis 'Blue Panda', also another one that doesn't like our hot summers - but I'll keep trying!

Glory of The Snow (Chionodoxa )

The first blue of the year (actually, the Scilla {below} blooms when the Crocus bloom, but the flowers are so tiny and delicate that it's easy to nearly overlook them) 

 

The tiny stripes on the above blossoms are a subdued baby blue

 

Pulmonaria (I think it's "Blue Ensign" - unfortunately, i lost the tag) blooming right now - even though the buds are pink, the open flowers are EXTREMELY blue!

...And one more.... the pretty blue forget me not-like flowers of the Brunneras....

The Search For The Elusive Himalayan Blue Poppy

(Photo blatantly stolen from Katina Choovanski's Blog)

Found a Meconopsis ( the sky blue Himalayan Poppy) today at a local farm market and greenhouse - this is an "average" farm market most of the year, albeit a nice one, but in May, it transforms into a "collector's heaven"! Rows and rows of unusual, if not downright RARE plants for my area, and a lot of new (and expensive) varieties of Hostas. i make one trip there a year (any more often and i'd be living in poverty- all my money would be theirs!) i have never seen a Meconopsis for sale before around here- but there's a good reason....Yes, the tag DOES say "hardy to zone 5" - and that is where i live, in zone 5b. Unfortunately, MY zone 5 is not the same as "THAT" zone 5! The plant needs a cool, moist environment to thrive (the Pacific Northwest), and our summers get too hot and too dry. With that in mind, did i pass it up? Nope. You never know, we may have a cool, damp summer this year....maybe...:o}

i'll take any advice and/or growing tips anyone passes my way!

i had found seed for it before, and had very little luck germinating it. i did manage to get one feeble little plant going, it didn't make it. Another year, one started in it's pot, and, to my amazement, it was growing like a weed! I pampered that thing for weeks, until i realized that, unfortunately, it WAS a weed! Oops.

"White Feather" Hosta amongst the crabapple petals

So this was a strong looking little plant, and it will be my last try to see one of the blooms in living color! So, in the ground it goes, with some water holding crystals in the soil and in part shade, and i'll let you know what happens. Along with my new "White Feather" Hosta, my "Summer Glow" Tamarisk, and a couple more little treasures, it was a very fulfilling trip!

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