There's a joke that I am sure you've heard: "A woman asks: What colour is this? Cobalt? Royal? Indigo? Azure?" A man answers: It's Blue."
It just goes to show that something that seems so simple, can actually be quite complex. There are infinite shades of blue and many of them have specific names.
It's also been said that it's hard to find True Blue in the garden, and by that, the person usually means in plants and flowers.
I had a look through my photos and discovered that I had quite a number of Blue-flowered plants.
Above is Iris reticulata, a gorgeous blue Spring bulb. It's very short - 4-6" but a brilliant cobalt blue. The yellow and white markings intensify the blue.
Another early Spring bulb, Muscari or grape hyacinth, is a periwinkle shade of blue. It blooms with early tulips and spreads over the years, creating lovely swatches of violet-blue.
Scilla proliferates rapidly by seed, forming a mat of sky blue in mid-Spring.
When I first planted these fragrant hyacinths years ago, they were a dark purple-blue but over the years, they come up more blue than purple.
Pale mauve-blue creeping phlox tumbles over a boulder. It is surrounded by many colours and sizes of hosta.
Centaurea montana (perennial Bachelor's Button) is a lacy spring flower that has a fuchsia centre but pale blue frothy blooms. It is also known as Blue Cornflower.
Siberian Iris are much more blue than these photos indicate. They stand out brilliantly against their own dark green foliage and are a perfect compliment to Allium moly, the little yellow flower above.
Is Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) blue or mauve or a combination of both?
Hydrangea are often white but now come in pink, green and blue!
There are many, many more blue flowers that I love but the last one I want to mention in this post is Balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus). It's a lovely, delicate shade of pale blue but it nevertheless brightens shady corners. It also does quite well in the sun.
Need even more blue in your garden? How about adding a swimming pool or other type of water feature?
If all else fails, paint your house blue, add blue cushions to the patio furniture or paint your Muskoka Chairs a bright blue!
Please check my food blog: the latest recipe posted is for Classic Roast Chicken.
