Blue flower garden

Blue flowers for garden

Lynda Hallinan succumbs to an attack of the summer blues - and she couldn't be happier. Here are 10 of her favorite blue flower garden bloomers

Blue flower plants

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT
• Annual cornflowers are among my favorite easy blue flower plant bloomers. The new types have been bred to be much bushier and more floriferous than the older, leggy varieties, but that also means they lack decent stems for picking.

• The blue flower plant 'Lucia Dark Blue' lobelias I planted in front of my strawberry cages have been stunning all season. This lobelia, from the Aussie winners range, is quite sensational with flowers at least twice as big as a traditional bedding or hanging basket lobelia, in full bloom, this blue flower plant creates a wave of azure blue with not a hint of foliage to be seen. It's tidy too.

• Love-in-a-mist (Nigelfa damascene) blue flower plant is one of those cottage favorites you never grow tired of. It's fantastic for picking, self-seeds readily and has sculptural seed pods to boot.

• Nemesia 'innocence Bluebird' blue flower plant is such a great gap filler. It's compact and colorful, with loads of flowers for months on end.

Blue flower garden

Last summer I grew in my blue flower garden far too many purple cabbages, so this year I've restricted myself to two rows of seedlings-and I probably won't eat any of them. That's because, along with black Tuscan kale (also known as cavolo nero), I've planted them purely to add some beefy leafy drama amid a mass of blue flowers for garden.

For the past few years, I've been stuck in a pink rut, planting nothing but powderpuff-pink, candy pink, deep cerise and burgundy flowers. All the roses on this month's cover, for example, came from my cottage garden.

But, come summer, blue flower garden is undeniably the colour of the season, from blue flower plant skies and azure seas to the thuggish agapanthus and old-fashioned hydrangeas in full bloom
along the country roadsides where I live. Color theorists associate blue with cleanliness and tranquility. It's also said to slow the metabolism, calm the mind and cool off hot tempers - and who doesn't need a hand cooling off during this hot and sticky season? So here are my favourite
10 blue flower plants for summer garden.

Blue flowers for garden

1 HYDRANGEAS - blue flower plant

In acidic soil, these easy flowering shrubs produce blooms of an intense blue flowers unmatched by anything else in nature. Hydrangeas are colorful blue flower plant chameleons: in acidic soil, they're blue, but in alkaline conditions the flowers turn pink. I've never had our soil tested but I assume it must be fairly acidic because all the white 'Bridal Bouquet' blue flower plant hydrangeas I planted under the trees for our wedding are now the palest shade of duck-egg blue! You can adjust your soil by adding aluminium sulphate (the key ingredient in Yates Hydrangea Blueing Tonic, from garden centers) or by adding dolomite lime if you prefer pink flowers.

2 HONEYWORT - blue flower plant

Some might argue that Cerinthe major 'Pride of Gibraltar' (Kings Seeds) is closer to purple flower than blue, but there's no denying that it's beautiful. From seed, it flowers in as little as six weeks - and once it starts to bloom in your blue flower garden, it doesn't stop until the first frosts.

3 LOVE-IN-A-MIST blue flower plant

Nigella damascena will always have a place in my blue flower garden... because this blue flower plant self-seeds like a weed. Not only are the blue flowers delightful, the balloon-like seed pods add interest to bouquets.

4 LARKSPURS blue flower plant

Last summer I planted a single punnet of these mini blue flower plant members of the delphinium
family. They were lovely, if a little stunted (larkspurs resent root disturbance, which is why it's better to sow seeds direct). I never did get around to pulling this blue flower plant out when they'd finished flowering - and it's lucky I didn't, because they've self-seeded all along our boundary. Sow the 'Summer Sun Mix' from Kings Seeds or 'Qis Formula Mix' from Egmont Seeds.

5 CATMINT blue flower plant

Fifteen years ago, I planted wepefa 'Six Hills Giant' in my first cottage garden. (I remember it well because the neighbour's cat immediately took a shine to it, giving rise to the nickname 'Six Hills Flat' instead.) It's a magnificent blue flower plant perennial, yet I'd forgotten all about it until I saw it at the garden centre last spring, prompting an impulse purchase of six plants. Those blue flower plants are now well over half a meter wide, with fluffy lilac flower spikes up to 70 cm tall.

6 CORNFLOWERS blue flower plant

I can't decide which l like best: annual blue cornflowers, such as fluffy blue 'Classic Fantastic' (Kings seeds and Egmont seeds), or their perennial cousin centaurea montana.

7 SWEET PEAS  blue flower plant

Last August I sowed a packet each of 'Blue Reflections' (Yates) and 'Almost Black' (Kings Seeds and Egmont Seeds)  blue flower plant sweet peas. Bred by Dr Keith Hammett, both varieties
boast intense scent. The mixed blooms of 'Blue Reflections' have lusciously long stems (up to 45cm) so they're perfect for picking.

8 DELPHINIUMS  blue flower plant

For once, the weather gods smiled on my  blue flower plant delphiniums (they usually succumb to
crown rot in Auckland's humidity). I bought seedlings online from Awapuni Nurseries - they're the best value on a budget.

9 LOBELIAS  blue flower plant

These dazzling blue bedding plants suit hanging baskets, beds and borders.

10 STATICE  blue flower plant

A must-have  blue flower plant for retro dried flower arrangements, I've also been seduced by
statice's sterling performance in dry soil, it never needs watering, so I've planted two rows at the far end of my garden, where the hose doesn't reach. Statice might not be a fashionable flower, but for low-maintenance summer blue flower garden.

PHOTOS SALLY TAGG

blue flower garden, blue flower plant, blue flowers for garden