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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Pretty pictures: Purple and Blue

I've been taking tons of pictures lately, and then not doing much with them, blogularly speaking. Part of this is because I've been taking so many that the thought of trying to sort them all out makes me exhausted before I even start. Today, I'm going to at least try to get a few of them out of the way.

Hyacinthus orientalis NOID. In somebody's yard, here in town.


Glechoma hederacea. Ditto. I like this picture not because it's a great photo in and of itself, but because it's closeish to an accurate depiction of the weird luminous quality G. hederacea flowers have in certain lighting situations. Like all blue/purple things, they rarely photograph in anything close to accurate color, but I'll settle for them glowing slightly. The leaves are reddish, incidentally, because this photo was taken when it was still pretty cold at night, and Glechoma turns reddish in the cold. Like a lot of plants do.


Bacopa 'Colossal Blue.' Or possibly Sutera 'Colossal Blue.' I've lost track of which one is supposed to be current. This was at the ex-job, and whether or not I find it interesting depends mostly on what I'm comparing it to. So like, comparing it to the overall options available in the outdoor annual category, I think it kinda sucks. But comparing it to the other Bacopa/Sutera varieties I'm familiar with, all of which were white, it's interesting. A quick googling suggests that I should actually be even less impressed than I am, because this is far from the only lavender Bacopa in the world.


Lobelia erinus 'Laguna Sky Blue.' This was more impressive in person than in the photograph. I'm not sure what went wrong with the picture. I don't think I'm likely to try to grow Lobelias again, having had uniformly negative experiences with them, but there's no arguing that they're pretty.


Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost.' Also at the ex-job, and unfortunately a little bit past prime bloom, but nevertheless blue, so it fits, so here it is.


Delphinium 'Summer Skies Pacific Giant.' Delphinium cultivar names appear to be getting as ridiculous as those of orchids.


Viola sp. From our lawn. The plant's nothing special, but I thought this picture turned out remarkably well. Hence my remarking on it.


Viola sp. I don't actually remember where this one was taken. They're everywhere right now, you know.


Scilla siberica? An older photo, from someone's lawn. Really like this picture too.


Anchusa arvensis. Taken at a garden center that's not the ex-job. I hadn't actually heard of this before this year, and now that I've heard of it and seen it, I'm not sure how I feel about it.

4 comments:

  1. I like ALL blue flowers because blue is my favorite color of everything.

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  2. "... and now that I've heard of it and seen it, I'm not sure how I feel about it."

    I never know how I feel about a plant until I've actually grown it, and often that means growing it several times in different conditions.

    Of course, the appearance of the plant for sale in a pot may elicit instant plant lust. But many landscape plants never look like much in a pot, and don't begin to show their true potential till they've been growing in the ground for several years. That's why garden visits are so good at inspiring plant lust.

    Don

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  3. Anchusa arvensis - Whoa!

    That particular plant looks like a fabulous specimen, because an online search comes up with nothing that resembles that density of flower.

    Nice.

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  4. Re: weird luminous quality

    It's possible that these flowers appear luminous because they are reflecting bee-purple, as well as all the colors we can see. I was told years ago that that was the explanation for the eye-blinding brilliance of some of the blue-white phloxes when seen in full sun.

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