blue observations

It's no secret that I love blue flowers. Here's another S. azurea (or S. pitcheri or S. grandiflora or whatever you want to call it), but of a form with darker blue flowers, and with no white center blaze. Here, against the dark green foliage of Penstemon pseudospectabilis, and in close focus, the flowers stand out, but I'm noticing that it doesn't catch the eye as much as the paler blue flowers with the white blaze (see my earlier post).

Salvia chamaedryoides (the blue oak sage - below), has been blooming off and on since May, more when there is a bit of rain, since I do not irrigate these plants. I find it extremely disappointing that despite the rich blue color of the flowers in close-up photos, the flowers disappear when viewed at any distance. Part of this has to do with the background. The plant naturally has gray leaves, and dark blue does not stand out against the gray at distance - they just look like shadows.


You can see how different this plant looks with the stones and brown stucco of my neighbor's house behind it.

And you can see the difference with a background of Penstemon clutei.

Here you can see at just a bit of distance, how the flowers disappear!

I had lusted for the blue flowers of Ceanothus for years, and have eagerly tried this hardier variety 'Gloire de Versailles.' Alas, the flowers are a washed out color, and in the New Mexico light, just look dirty. By the way, after the fantastic spring bloom, my Ceanothus caeruleus has not rebloomed. This is a lesson: for spring blooms, let it alone. For August blooms, prune it back hard.