Springtime Blues

Mother Nature does things on her own idiosyncratic schedule. Usually, by early June, my perennial bed is full of color. By now the peonies in the perennial bed should be opening up into showy bursts (which soon become loose, falling petals that require tidying up so that the flowers below aren’t buried in a soggy mess.) However, this year, despite the predictions that the Northeast will bear the brunt of rising temperatures due to global warming, Mother Nature is taking her time.

perennial border

 

This year she seems to prefer a limited palate. Luckily, it’s my favorite – blues that ease into the purple and red end of the spectrum.

Borage is one of the few true blue plants.

borage

 

These flowers are shot through with a smokey blue. I can’t remember what this is, and the tag disappeared over the winter. Can someone remind me?

blue flower

 

My inexpensive, fill-in-the-blanks petunias are stunning.

purple petunia

 

Although herbs taste best if you keep their blooms pinched off, I can’t do that to this Vietnamese basil. The flower is edible, but there’s so little color in the garden, that I’m leaving it there for myself to look at, and for the bees to gather nectar.

Vietnamese basil

 

There’s purple in the meadow, too, and I’ve already watched the pollinators eagerly going from bloom to bloom. Don’t discount how important clover is for bees. I have plenty, and I pull handfuls to feed to Phoebe.

red clover

 

Chives are in bloom. Without the balance of the fragrance of the peonies, my garden smells distinctly of onions.

chives

 

The salvia can always be counted on for a show all summer. How the bees and hummingbirds love it!

salvia

 

Usually, by the first week of June, the green swath of the meadow is dotted with yellow and whites of daisies, but they’re still closed up tight. However, there are tall spires of lupine bursting with purple.

lupine

 

I’m guessing that Mother Nature will pull out her pink paints next, but I could be wrong. We’ll have to wait and see.

Comments:

  1. That white flower? Is it some kind of jasmine? Looks familiar?

  2. Hi Terry….The mystery plant is Borage. I love it too and miss having it in my garden…must find some. my garden is a mix of colours right now. It has exploded with bloom! The roses including luscious scented soft pink puffy balls that are hanging over my chair on the patio really set the mood for some serious relaxation. I have added several climbing and rambling roses over the years and most of them are now in bloom. It is quite lovely….some would say the garden has reached it`s peak in blooming now. The Rhodos and Azaleas have been great this year…more bloom then usual and the Laburnum tree as well but it never lasts long enough to satisfy me. It is one of my favourites every year with it`s golden yellow hanging clumps of bloom that magnify with the sun shining through them. And the perfume…ahhhhhhhh. Isn`t Spring the best!!!!!

  3. Oh I see now you meant the next plant…I am not familiar with that one….. Your garden is lovely with all the blue plants!

  4. I too thought “Jasmine!”

    I’d grown borage in a container years ago, and the flowers opened blue, but in the afternoon they’d faded to pink. I’m still not sure if this is so common nobody refers to it, or this was some special borage. The seeds were purchased, not collected, so they couldn’t be that unique. That certainly was something I planted with the intention of putting in salads, but once it bloomed I found it too charming to cut pieces from.

    • Lovely pictures- and I enjoyed seeing some rainfall on HenCam! :^)

    • I’ve always thought that borage flowers started with a pinkish hue and ended up blue. My chickens love to eat the flowers.

  5. I searched out your flower on Google Images and it looks like one called an Amsonia.

  6. I think your mystery plant is amsonia tabernaemontana “blue ice” — the leaves turn a lovely bright yellow in the fall.

  7. The closest thing I have to blue is a deep purple clematis which has been sprawling on the ground since the re-roofing project last year. I’ve never seen so many blooms on that vine. I’ve now got it properly supported on some string wound over a banister outside my bedroom.
    Usually by this time my gardenia (now about 8′ tall) would be coming off a full covering of fragrant blossoms that weigh the branches down almost to the ground. This year – neither bud nor bloom to be seen!

  8. Your pictures are so uplifting and beautiful. I always count blessings from God, here on your blog. You mentioned hummingbirds. We use to have 25 to 50 every year. We always put out our sugar water feeders. No color in the water. But read somewhere to keep migratory birds away from your chickens if possible. So when we got our ladies, we took down the feeders. We’ve missed the hummingbirds for two seasons now. They come to find the feeders, but they’re not there. They move on. We miss them. They came here for, I guess 20 years or so. We made the sacrifice and no regrets. Hope all have a great day at Little Pond.

  9. I had some squill once that bloomed a lovely white and blue. My delphinium are an amazing shade of deep purple right now. I’ve got some violas that have a watercolor appearance instead of being the rich and dark colors. They’re pale yellow and purple-almost-blue and sometimes white. My thyme flowers are so tiny, it’s really hard to tell if they’re white or pale blue.

  11. Terry, good morning. I was wondering if something has happened to Caper’s front right leg. He’s limping and holding it up. I’m not sure it this is something he does, but I’ve not seen it before.

    • Just saw you give the boys their treats and it looks fine now. He must have been resting it like the chickens do.

    • Good observation. When Caper was about a year old he started limping. I took him to the vet (see that story here) and x-rays showed a bone chip. He’s lame. Sometimes he looks gimpy, sometimes he doesn’t. It doesn’t seem to affect his days.