Favorite Blue Flower Bulbs--TOW
Mary Sue Ittner (Thu, 18 Nov 2004 18:20:36 PST)

Dear All,

Since blue is one of my favorite colors I've really enjoyed reading about
everyone's favorites. A couple of them were my favorite purple flowers, but
I expected a little overlap. I agree with Lee that there are some
borderline ones and that many that are mentioned as blue don't really seem
blue to me.

Like many others I have been trying to grow Tecophilaea cyanocrocus and it
has been very slow to bloom for me from seed and even from corms changing
hemispheres. Last year I did see one bloom, but it didn't last very long so
I was a bit disappointed. For two years I've had blooms from Tecophilaea
cyanocrocus var. leichtlinii, the one that is blue and white and it bloomed
longer so is a bit higher in my esteem.

I nominated Delphinium for purple favorites and there are a couple of
native ones, D. decorum and D. paryii that are almost blue or part blue
that I really like. Also there is one that is really a gorgeous color of
blue that I received from NARGS seed as D. menziesii, which it is not. I
don't know what it really is, but I decided to add it again as a sp. to the
wiki, along with a picture of the roots, tuber? when dormant.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

I keep struggling to grow some of the Aristea from seed that are supposed
to be blue. A. bakeri has survived our dry summer just fine in the ground
so it looks like a keeper and I thought the flowers a nice color of blue
when it bloomed this spring.

Like Sheila I adore Leucocoryne. Last year Lee Poulsen translated a key for
us we found on the Internet. Mine were just about through blooming at the
time, but I think the blue one I really like which is not the one I find
the easiest to grow is L. coquimbensis. It is blue around the edges with a
white center. I believe I got it as L. ixioides. The L. coquimbensis that
Bill Dijk gave some of us turned out to be L. vittata (Tepals with
undulating/wavy and erose edges, violet-purple color, with an
obvious/blatant violet central line.) It made my favorite purple list.

I don't think anyone has mention Pasithea caerulea which is a very nice
blue and there are a couple of Orthosanthus which are nice too. Bellevalia
dubia has nice blue buds when it first starts to bloom and then becomes brown.

Like Liz I like Salvia patens even though I have to grow it in a container
as my soil is too dry in summer for it to do well. (I've tried.)

Finally I don't grow these, but we admired the Iris siberica we saw in the
U.K. in May. I've added two pictures to the wiki of ones we saw by name at
Wisley. My books say those are often hybrids. There was one called Navy
Blue which was a really pretty color.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Mary Sue
Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers