It’s raining again here in Cheshire (will it ever stop?), and I’m gazing through the window at my sodden garden, watching the slugs and snails slithering out from their hiding places (do they really think I can’t spot them?) and willing the sun to come out instead! But when I’m feeling blue, then all I need to do is take a look at my favourite summer flowers (or at least, photos of them) and, you’ve guessed it, they’re blue too!
I thought it might be fun (and it sure beats doing the ironing) to compile a “Top Ten” of summer flowering blues. It’s a tough choice deciding which flowers to include, but here we go, in reverse order:
In at number 10, let’s hear it for common or garden cornflowers! Dead easy to grow from seed, and last for ages.
Down to number 9, and it’s Iris “Jane Phillips”. She’s a gorgeous colour, reminiscent of blue summer skies (remember them?) and slightly scented, but her flowers don’t last longer than a few days (certainly not in this weather), so enjoy her while you can!
At number 8, it’s the annual Cerinthe Major, with her blue leaves and flowers. She seeds herself around, but is always welcome in my garden.
At number 7, beautiful, fragrant lavenders! So many different ones to choose from, but there a couple of favourites shown here, Lavender Pinnata and Lavender Munstead, loved by bees as well as me!
At number 6, for a good splash of colour, you can’t beat sky blue petunias! Keep them fed and watered, and dead-head them regularly, and they’ll flower their socks off all summer.
At number 5, Veronica longifolia deserves her place in my top-ten. With her lance shaped leaves, and spires of flowers she makes a lovely cottage garden plant.
At number 4, the globe thistle, Echinops ritro, is a metallic blue, and another great plant for attracting bees to the garden.
At number 3 it has to be sweet peas! This powder blue one is called Charlie’s Angel, grown in memory of our late bull dog Charlie, who sadly wasn’t half as pretty.
At number 2, it’s the gorgeous Agapanthus! Not sure what variety mine is, but I grow it in a large pot, which goes into the greenhouse over winter, in case it’s not quite hardy. Keeping it pot bound helps it to flower better, and I also treat it to a weekly feed of liquid tomato food to encourage more blooms.
But at number 1, we have a tie! I just can’t decide between delphiniums and aconitums, so I’ll cheat a little and call them both my number one summertime blues!
So there’s my “Top Ten” blues; I hope you’ve enjoyed them. Do you have favourite blue plants in your garden? I’d love to know what they are…
Happy Gardening!
Di x