Crazy For Blues.... Anywhere, Everwhere

Kiki over at 'Awake With Charm & Spirit' wrote
a posting on 'The Color Essence of Blue' which
was beautiful and extended an invitation to others
who are inspired by blue to join in.
Blue is a color that I dearly love not only in the
blues of flowers and decor in my garden but also
all throughout my home.
The siding on my home is even a light blue.
Inside my home blue is the main use in decor, from
the blue and white theme in my kitchen....







to the blue furniture and decor in my living room.
Dried blue hydrangea blooms...




Even the bathroom has a blue and yellow decor,
so yes, blue is a color I love.

In the garden I try to find blue flowers of every
kind to grow. Even in the choice of the seeds I
purchase I look for blue flowers.




Blue dwarf Morning Glory's are beautiful
while they last and shearing them back when
they slow down will bring them back for more
pretty blooms.



Shades of blue in petunia's run more to purples
I believe but for this winters sowing I have found seed
for a blue Celebrity petunia and blue alyssum.



Blue Browillia



Blue lobelia



Marine blue helitrope




And some of the perennials that are around in the
flower beds are this Clustered Bellflower.



Blue woolly Speedwell



Blue Hill Salvia is one of my favorites in the
sage family and I have it stuck in two or three beds.



It looks so pretty with the Crimson Bouquet roses.




Even Campunala bellflower Chettle Charm turns
blue on the edges with age.




Tall Phlox or Rockets



Blue Bird Delphinium or Larkspur



Even Jack Frost Brunnera has the prettiest little blue blooms
to start off the spring.



Blue creeping phlox cover the whole bank on the one
side of the garage.

Blue Chip Campanula



Hardy Geraniums which the name now has been
completely forgotten. Johnson??




The Nikko Blue Hydrangea that I had to go into
the archives to get a picture of.



While in the archives I found this picture of the dark
blue hyacinths that bloom in the spring.
I have more blue flowers than I thought.




The decor outdoors has a few touches of blue
added in by pots.



The containers I use to plant the flowers in,
and I will use about anything that holds soil,
are decorated in blue sometimes.
Even in the previous posting of the Amaryllis
that were just started were put in blue and white
flowers pots.



Even to the flags in the garden the blue comes into play.





Blue Birds are invited to the garden and their blue
houses.





Some of the blues that I planted this Fall to
bloom in the blue section of the woods bed are:

Eryngium Blue Sea Holly



An Oreo Iris



A Out of the Blue re-blooming Iris



Agastache Blue Fortune



And a Jacob's Ladder polemonium

Others that I have but have no pictures for that are
new are Mammouth Blue hosta, Columbine Aquilegia Alpina,
Campanula Blue Waterfalls, and Loddon Royalist Anchusa.

Would you say I am crazy for blue in the garden and out?

Happy Blue Gardening Everyone!

Kiss The Summer Flowers Goodbye

In summing up this growing season in one word
it would have to be abnormal.

Here in Ohio we only had about two weeks worth of
what we would call 'Summer' , where the temperatures
were in the upper eighties or near ninety.
Now for some of my gardening friends this would
have been a blessing to have some cool days with their
record heat and droughts.We had adequate rain fall
this summer where my rain barrel was always filled
with water and the overflow which runs into a cistern
to help water the garden did not go dry but for two weeks.
It sometimes goes dry the first of July when we are entering
into our hot, humid and dry season of July through August.
So with the cool days of only into the upper seventies for
months this was in fact a cool summer and abnormal.
And now we are into Winter temperatures before we even
enjoyed the Fall.
Ohio is a very agricultural state so the farmers are
struggling to get their soy beans from the fields with
wet cold weather and their corn crops are having a hard
time to get dried out so that it can be picked and brought
in from the muddy fields to the mills.
This summers cool weather delayed and blighted the
growing of vegetables and flower gardens also.
This is one of the toughest years I have saw for mildew
on everything with the wet days and cool nights.
Many of the flowers were slow or not preforming as
they generally would have and with some,as my hydrangeas
they never even got blooms.
I am not writing all of this to complain about the
weather but more as a record for myself to compare
with other growing seasons.
Also it makes me cringe to think that if we had all
of this cool and wet in July and the dog days of August
what are we in store for this Winter.
I have seen warmer Decembers than the weather that
has come upon us here in September and October.
The warm up spell we generally have in October into
the seventies that we call Indian Summer looks like a no
show for us this year.
A hard freeze of 27 degrees is coming to us tonight
so with that I will be kissing whatever flowers that are
left a sad goodbye.



The containers and beds of impatiens that were
gathered under the trees to keep them from frost burn
will be a mess of mush tomorrow.



The only remaining purple potato vine that the
deers did not manage to eat will be a withered mess
in the morning. So the bulbs or potatoes from it will
be dug up tomorrow to be brought in for vines for
next Spring.



The remaining Browillia that were left will bloom
no more this year.






So will the Marine Helitrope and the remaining
petunias.








Goodbye to the Rose Lobelia.



The flowering Nicotiana that was such a
flowering machine this summer will be
dead in the morning.



Lord Baltimore Dahlia was finally cut down and the
roots brought into the basement to hang until next Spring.



The last of the geraniums that could not be brought
in for lack of room will be sad looking flowers after
tonight.

The Flowering Stock which took forever this
summer to bloom now will go before it has had
a good season of bloom.





Goodbye Alyssum you were such a trooper this summer
but I will have you back next Spring.



The last of the Osteospermum after today.



I will miss the Roses this Winter more than any
of the flowers.





But as with all gardeners there is always next Spring,
new seeds to try this Winter, new Proven Winners
to look forward to next Spring, and new plants to
look forward to in 2010.

So we will spent the Winter going over our gardening
logs and notes to improve our beds next Spring.
What did not get planted or moved this Fall will be there
waiting for us in a new year.
It was an abnormal Summer but it was also full of
gardening firsts and flowering surprises.
Not the best growing year but still one filled with beauty.

Happy Gardening Everyone!