COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



cornered blossoms; and Baptisia australis, which is one of the 

 very best of hardy plants. 



Good blue annuals are quite numerous. One of the 

 prettiest is the Cape Forget-me-not (Anchusa capensis). 

 Not one of its cerulean family boasts a purer blue and its 

 summer-long period of bloom and indifference to drought 

 make it a really valuable annual. It has also a sturdy 

 habit of growth and sowing its hardy seeds freely it does 

 its best to become a permanent resident. Another beautiful 

 blue flower and one rarely seen is Phacelia campanularia 

 that bears its gentian-blue flowers with conspicuous white 

 anthers about eight inches above the foliage. The seed is 

 hardy, so may be sown early, and little patches of its pure 

 blue flowers are very pretty mingled with buff Phlox 

 Drummondi along the border edge. One might search far 

 and not find a more appealing blue flower than the little 

 Cornflower — Centaurea cyanus Emperor William. It is an- 

 other generous self-sower, so generous that I am often 

 under the sad necessity of rooting out the trusting green 

 tufts from the walks. I let them stay wherever it is possible 

 for they are among the flowers for which we have a special 

 tenderness and nothing is prettier for cutting and placing 

 in old blue and white china jars for indoor enjoyment. 

 There are some very dwarf forms that make pretty edgings. 



Miss Jekyll's Love-in-a-mist (Nigella) is a choice blue 

 annual too well known to require description, but Nemesia 

 Blue Gem, a graceful foot-tall plant with slender stems and 

 sky-blue flowers, is less familiar. Anagalis caerulea, six 

 inches tall, and Nemophila insignis or Love Grove, four 

 inches, are pretty for edges, the latter thriving best in damp 



144 



