There’s a rarity about blue flowers that attraction to most gardeners. Many flowers are known as blue, however comparatively few are a pure blue. Catalogs normally make little distinction between blue and tones of purple. And in affiliation with different colours, blue is scarcely much less invaluable than white. It conflicts with none, it softens most, and it heightens many. The Anchusas (pronounce it an-keu’-sah) bear blue flowers which might be actually blue and make beautiful backyard photos together with many different flowers.
Anchusa is a member of the Borage Household and is expounded to Neglect-me-not, Heliotrope, Pulmonaria, Mertensia and different helpful backyard vegetation. There are annual, biennial and perennial sorts. Within the colder sections of the nation, the biennial sorts are greatest handled as annuals. All make good sized clumps of somewhat coarse, normally bushy foliage from which the leafy stalks, bearing unfastened clusters of small blue flowers, rise to a peak of one-and-a-half to 5 – 6 toes. They don’t seem to be explicit as to soil, however the richer the soil, the ranker the expansion. They thrive in both solar or partial shade.
Anchusas develop readily from seeds, and spring sown seeds (besides these of A. myosotidiflora) germinate readily in from 15 to twenty days. The seeds are in regards to the dimension of mustard seeds and are simply dealt with in a chilly body. The vegetation are additionally simply elevated by division.
A. capensis Blue Chicken, known as the Cape Neglect-me-not, has sensible indigo blue flowers on compact vegetation 15 to 18 inches tall. It blooms all summer time. It’s generally listed as a biennial, however in most sections of the nation ought to be handled as an annual. There are different named hybrids of A. capensis that are listed by some nurserymen.
A. barrelieri is a two-foot perennial of bushy progress. It has small deep blue flowers with white and yellow facilities very early within the spring. In some sections, it proves to be biennial.
Anchusa italica and its varieties are hardy perennials. A. italica Dropmore selection has wealthy gentian-blue flowers on vegetation three to 5 toes tall.
A. italica Opal makes stately vegetation 5 to 6 toes tall with mild blue flowers borne in engaging trusses. Each this selection and the Dropmore selection make beautiful backyard photos mixed with any of the Oriental Poppies. A. italica Feltham Delight is alleged to be an improved type extra compact in behavior. It is usually a hardy perennial. The four-foot vegetation are a mass of sensible blue forget-me-not like flowers in June. A. italica Morning Glory is a stunning new introduction that’s stated to be reliably perennial.
The ever common Russian Neglect-me-not, A. myosotidiflora, is the loveliest of all. Early within the spring (April in my backyard) it begins to bloom as quickly because the leaves break by way of the soil and it continues till the plant makes a mound of heart-shaped foliage 18 inches excessive that’s nearly hidden by sprays of flowers in a wonderful shade of blue. It is likely one of the best vegetation for a low border or giant rock backyard. Within the border it’s charming with Daffodils and early Tulips with the double white Arabis at their toes. Within the rock backyard, planted on the high of a slight slope that’s coated with Polyanthus in shades of palest yellow to deepest crimson, it makes an eye-arresting image. It’s a kind of uncommon vegetation that revels in partial shade. It is vitally hardy and a long-lived perennial.
Seeds of A. myosotidiflora sown in spring require 30 to 60 days to germinate and germination is variable and irregular. Fall sowing in an open seed mattress will get good outcomes. Within the rock backyard, the place the soil shouldn’t be disturbed by digging, they self-sow prolifically and every spring there are a lot of child vegetation. This Anchusa is definitely elevated by division and transplants readily.
Blue is a peaceable shade and provides depth to the panorama. When it’s worn by such versatile vegetation because the Anchusas, which ask so little in the way in which of soil or place, the ingenious gardener will use it generously to melt some elements of his panorama, to attach a sunny backyard a shadowy, cool look, to offer depth and alter from too many shiny flowers, and to accentuate these colours which mingle with it to greatest benefit.
By R. BOBBITT, (N. Y.)
