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Another true blue flower
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Posted by perennialfan273 zone 5 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 3, 10 at 1:12
| Man, blue is really hard to come by in the world of gardening, but if you're in zone 3 or warmer (which most of us are) you can try growing gentiana acaulis. Fascinating species of gentiana. Oh, and speaking of gentiana, gentiana lutea is another gentian species that is very beautiful when in bloom. The foliage is only hardy through zone 7, but the roots are actually hardy through zone 5. Anyways, here's a picture of the bloom. The first one is a close up of a flower, and the second one is a picture of the whole plant (looks very similar to petunias, don't you think??)
http://www.meighan.com/images/gardening/gentiana-acaulis-4.jpg
http://www.magnar.aspaker.no/Gentiana acaulis storbl.jpg |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Another true blue flower
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| Gentians are certainly what I think of first when it comes to "blue" flowers. I planted a couple of the new one called 'True Blue' which looks promising. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Gentiana 'True Blue'
RE: Another true blue flower
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| Would love to hear how you fare with Gentian true blue coolplantsguy although I might just give in and buy it this spring. Any idea where one could get Gentiana lutea, what is the flowering season? |
RE: Another true blue flower
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| G. lutea is very difficult to propagate and relatively rare. You might be able to find some seed somewhere. From seed however, it takes several years to flower, and then when it does, it only flowers every third year or so. I had one once -- I can remember being away from the garden the first summer it bloomed. :( |
RE: Another true blue flower
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| Just curious, why do you think a blue flower is so desirable? Is it because blue is a rare color in flowers, or because people really actually like blue? I love indigo, but true blue would be my 2nd least favorite color in a flower (orange being the least). |
RE: Another true blue flower
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| I don't find blue to be an uncommon flower color at all. I can list off several dozen "truly blue" flowering plants without much consideration at all. Funny about preferences - I quite like blue flowers and have many in my garden but orange is by far my favorite......and that is not always an easy color to find in flowers other than annuals. What I don't do is pink - I find pink flowers, in all their variations, rather insipid and usually without the intensity of color I prefer. btw, blue is by far the most popular color choice (aside from white and black) for any number of applications - clothing, cars, paint, etc. - so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that many folks would want or like blue flowers in their garden. |
RE: Another true blue flower
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| Yes it is funny Gardengal - I love pink flowers! And pastels, which many people find insipid. But I am starting some blue flowers from seed this year (Delphinium, Campanula rotundifolia, Mertensia virginica, etc.), and can't be without Asclepias tuberosa...so maybe those colors will "grow" on me with time. :) |
RE: Another true blue flower
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| perennialfan273 and coolplantsguy, those are beautiful. This is humbling, but I was reading another thread, and most of the plant names were either in Latin or I'd never heard of them. Unless I know the common name, I'm lost. Sometimes even the common name is unfamiliar. I just happen to have a passion for true blue flowers for years, maybe since I saw that Himalayan poppy in one of my garden books. Now that my house is painted blue I like some true blues scattered around. I've been doing a lot of winter sowing lately and have high hopes for some columbine and violas. Was just reading the germination rate for purchased columbine seeds is low. The violas I'm so worried they'll turn out to be purplish even though they're advertised and shown as the most intense blue. When it says "blue" I don't trust the promo, order just about all my seeds and plants online. I think a blue and white bed would be pretty, and I'm going for a red white and blue look in the back (with touches of purple). Years ago I saw a mass planting of red, white, and blue which I'm almost certain was purchased as a mixture, and it was lovely. But I'm not locked into those schemes. I have some yellow daylilies and have underplanter Rozanne geranium which color varies from blue to purple and will supplement it with some purple perennial. I'm finding that I like color combinations I would have shunned when I was younger, was more into pastels and yellow. Now I like splashes of orange among the blue and other colors. |
RE: Another true blue flower
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I like blue and use it a lot - in the garden; in the house; in my wardrobe... but I've never felt the need to pursue 'true' blue - if it's reasonably blue, I'll likely be happy with it :-) Color preferences are definitely a personal thing, although it does change over time I've found. In general, these days I prefer cool colors more than 'hot' ones. I do like pink - but mainly the cooler shades of pink. And I prefer to use large quantities of a color - I'm drawn for some reason to monochrome type color schemes where the planting includes variations of a limited number of colors. Sometimes though the introduction of an unexpected color can be just what's needed. Gardengal- orange is one of those colors that I don't normally use but I particularly like the spring scene out the window of my home office. The squirrels obviously raided a neighbour's tulip bed and added their booty to my garden! I wouldn't have planted these tulips myself but I love the combination and, luckily, it has been coming back for at least 5 years now! Without the orange, this would be a rather dull scene...:
 Another accidental orange combination I really like is this one of some of those cursed ditch daylilies that came with the house plus the next-door-neighbour's Jackmani (?) clematis tumbling over the fence. I like it so much that I have refrained from ripping out the ditch daylilies (that are otherwise a PITA!)
 I seem to have strayed off topic somewhat here but I really like playing with color and am always looking for color combinations/ideas to adopt. How do you use orange gardengal - i.e. what are some of your favorite orange scenes? |
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