Sunday, July 2, 2017

Royal Blue!

Here's one of the bluest flowers you can find, the Blueweed, Blue Devil, or Viper's Bugloss.  It's a mediteranean  plant, but widely naturalized in eastern North America.  And once you look closely, it's a glorious royal blue colour.

I actually rescued this plant from the mower.  I had been watching for them to come into bloom, because it's such an interesting flower, and saw this tall stem growing in the gravel right beside the road on my morning walk.  But the township's mower was headed toward me, and would chop this into oblivion.  So I rescued it, just in time, took it home, and put it in a vase 10 days ago.  I got out my tripod and decided to try and get some pictures with greater depth-of-field than my usual hand-held efforts.

Here it is, quite a tall spike of blooms, with stamens sticking out obviously.  It's a very hairy plant too, and grows in dry soil like gravel or sand, along roadsides or railways.

You can see the fine hairs, which almost feel sharp if you grasp it, making it feel like a soft thistle.

It actually has blue pollen, on the ends of the red stamens, and the bees love it.

One of those unusual flowers I watch for each year at this time.  It's still in the vase on the kitchen table.

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17 comments:

  1. A very pretty blue, and I also love the very happy bee! :-)

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  2. Love this blue colour, so calming. Great photos and happy new week!

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  3. It is such and interesting plant...I think I have seen it around here. You did a great job photographing it.

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  4. Indeed, the photos close up show its real beauty so well.

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  5. I love blue flowers. I have four different blue geraniums in my garden. 100% prettier than the pink ones.

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  6. What an interesting plant! Your photos are beautiful!

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  7. I'm going to have to look closer as I believe I've taken a picture of this plant around here. You make it look so beautiful with your close ups. Thank you!

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  8. Gorgeous colour. You first photo makes the flower appear huge. Great post!

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  9. Hello, it is a beautiful blue color. Lovely flower. Happy Monday, enjoy your day and the new week ahead!

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  10. Beautiful Pictures as always. It was nice of you to rescue such a wonderful looking plant. Your pictures captured more then what one would see by simply giving it a quick glance from the normal standing position. The detail is unbelievable as is most of what Nature has created.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  11. i guess it is blue, but i see purple/periwinkle!!! is that a vase in the second picture?? i think it is and i LOVE it. it is perfect for long, leggy wildflowers!!!

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  12. So pretty and such a gorgeous color of Blue..... Reminded me of the years I lived in Texas. In April we would drive to the 'hill country' area (near Austin) ---just to see the spring wildflowers, especially the Blue Bonnets... SO pretty --and we don't have them here. Thanks for sharing your BLUES today.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  13. What a beautiful blue color and so superb macros!

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  14. What a beautiful color and great shot of this lovely plant.

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  15. Such a beautiful blue! But a flower so prickly it's hard to pick. But I like to make a little bouquet of the Bugloss with some Maiden Pinks, which often seem to grow in the same places. The vivid pink of the Pink picks up the pink of the Bugloss's anthers.

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  16. Love blue in just about everything. - Margy

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