January 16, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
300 
COMMON BLUE FLOWERS. 
Though I term these common, I mean by that such 
things among the hardy and half-hardy annuals, bien¬ 
nials, and perennials that can he easily raised from 
seeds. I intend the following remarks for amateurs 
rather than for full-fledged gardeners, meaning thereby 
those of my horticultural brethren who may be presumed 
to know as much as I do myself and a great deal more in 
not a few instances. The learners, like the poor, are with 
us always, and one excellent feature of The Gardening 
World is that it is distinctly elementary in its char¬ 
acter, though there is to be found in its columns a 
great deal of information suitable for such of its 
readers who may be regarded as advanced. My remarks 
are intended for such amateur gardeners who may be 
desirous of growing a few pretty blue flowers, and I 
think all gardeners, great and small, elementary and 
advanced, are fond of the blue colour in flowers. It 
is one of the most winsome and attractive of hues. 
I remember that when Dr. Max Muller who delivered 
the first series of Hibbert lectures in Westminster Abbey 
m 18/8, spoke of the progressive development of the 
conceptions of colour, he said, “ we divide colour by 
■seven rough degrees. Even those seven degrees are of 
late date in the evolution of our sensuous knowledge. 
In common Arabic, as Palgrave tells us, the names for 
green, black, and brown are constantly confounded. 
In the Edda, the rainbow is called a three-coloured 
bridge. Xeifoplianes says that what people call Iris is 
a cloud, purple, red, and yellow. Even Aristotle still 
speaks of the tricoloured rainbow, red, yellow, and 
green. Blue, which seems to us so definite a colour, 
was worked out of the infinity of colours at a compara¬ 
tively late time. There is hardly a book now in 
which we do not read of the blue sky, but in the 
ancient hymns of the Veda, so full of the dawn, the sun, 
and the sky, the blue sky is not mentioned. In the 
Zendavesta the blue sky is never mentioned ; in 
Homer the blue sky is never mentioned ; in the Old 
and even in the New Testament the blue sky is never 
mentioned. In the Teutonic languages, blue comes 
from a root which originally meant bleak and black. 
The Romance languages found no useful word for blue 
in Latin and borrowed their word from the Germans.” 
Now these are curious facts. The Hibbert lecturer, no 
doubt, believed those ancients saw the blue sky as we 
do, but they had no word for it, because they had not 
detached it mentally from dark or bright. 
With this digression, now to my task. I commence 
with Anchusa italica, a veiy showy blue hardy perennial 
not unlike the Borage, growing to a height of 4 ft. or 
so, and being very gay in early summer, it deserves a 
place m every garden. Seeds of Anemone coronana 
yield some charming blue Anemones, but the tints are 
not so decided as in some other subjects to be noticed. 
Asperula aurea setosa, one of the woodruffs, is a dwarf 
growing hardy annual with pretty sweet scented blue 
flowers, remaining in bloom for a long time. Browallia 
alata is a charming brilliant blue half hardy annual, 
and makes a charming pot plant for the greenhouse. 
Campanula carpatica and C. turbinata, the fine vase 
Harebells, are of a lilac-blue shade, but very pretty, 
.and among the most useful hardy perennials that can 
be growm. Collinsia grandiflora is a pretty blue hardy 
annual of a rather dark shade, but really attractive. 
The best blue is the pretty C. verna, but then it is 
necessary to sow the seed in the open air as soon as it 
is ripe, and then it should he in a light, warm, early 
soil. I suppose it is because it is so troublesome, that 
it is never found in catalogues ; but it is a neglected 
beauty notwithstanding. Then there is Convolvulus 
minor, a rich blue, a lovely blue as one sees it at Ded¬ 
ham, where some acres of it can be looked upon with 
the morning sun shining royally upon it; there, one 
realises the rich blue it furnishes. Kaulfussia amel- 
loides is a pretty dwarf blue hardy annual, which 
makes a capital edging. And this brings me to one of 
the prettiest of blue annuals, Lathyrus sativus, or 
perhaps best known as L. azureus, the flowers of a 
lovely shade of pale blue, what one regrets is that the 
petals—apparently so soft and delicate, so soon burn 
in the sunlight. I remember some years ago a gentle¬ 
man turning up at a flower show with some flowers of 
this in his button-hole, and though a good many 
gardeners were present, and some of them well informed, 
they all believed what he said, that it was a new species 
recently introduced from Abyssinia ; it was just about 
the close of the Abyssinian war, and this fact lent 
additional interest to the flower. I ventured to state 
that it was what is known in this country as L. azureus, 
and was flatly contradicted. I then obtained some 
seeds, bloomed it, and sent the flowers to the gentleman, 
and I heard no more of the new introduction from 
Abyssinia ; but this charming annual is seldom seen in 
gardens. Lupinus nanus and L. subcarnosus are two 
dwarf growing hardy annuals of pretty shades of blue. 
Then there are the Forget-me-nots. Three of them 
are deserving of all praise, as charming and useful 
hardy perennials, viz., M. dissitiflora, the earliest and 
largest; M. sylvatica, smaller and later; and M. palus- 
tris semperflorens, which, in a moist situation, will 
flower nearly all the summer through. Nor must I 
forget the pretty blue Nemophila insignis grandiflora, 
so dwarf and free. One sees it at its best when the 
seeds are sown in good ground in autumn, allowed to 
stand all the winter, and to bloom in spring. I can 
remember when this was first introduced, or, rather, 
when it was becoming known, and being sent by my 
father with some plants to a lady who took a great in¬ 
terest in her garden. Then there is Nigella Damascena, 
and its double dwarf variety ; very useful hardy an¬ 
nuals, of shades of bright pale blue. The former, 
especially, deserves to be much more generally grown. 
Need I mention blue Pansies and Violas. They are so 
useful for the best part of the year as to be indispens¬ 
able to a garden. I would advise that a few plants 
of a good blue variety of each he bought, and the seed 
saved for sowing another season. A good selected 
variety of either can be readily propagated by division 
of the roots, and also by cuttings. 
The new Phacelia campanularia is one of the loveliest 
of blue hardy annuals; it is new and somewhat scarce, 
but a great beauty. P. tanacetifolia is also blue, but not 
so fine as the preceding ; it is, however, an excellent 
plant for bees. Another blue-flowered annual, of which 
the bees are also fond, is the showy Eutoca viscida, 
which is a most profuse bloomer, and grows about 
12 ins. high. And who would not grow’ Salvia patens? 
As a matter of course this is a summer bedding plant, 
and the seeds should be sown in a little heat in early 
spring. The plant being a perennial, it can be increased 
by cuttings in spring. Then there is Salvia Blue 
Beard, a very handsome hardy annual, growing about 
18 ins. high, the spikes furnished with a number of 
deep mauve-purple bracts. It is a capital plant. The 
seed should be sown in a little warmth in February, 
and the plants put out in the open air in May. Lastly 
comes Viscaria occulata ccerulea, with its bright blue 
flowers, a very good hardy annual ; and Whitlavia 
gloxinoides, a very free-blooming hardy annual also— 
the gloxinia-like flowers having blue lip and a white 
throat. 
Two things are necessary to be said, and I have done. 
One is, that in nearly every case the seeds of the 
subjects named can be sown in the open ground where 
they are to flower ; therefore, sow thinly in good soil, 
and do not be afraid to thin out the plants afterwards. 
The other is, when the plants are thinned out do not 
neglect them afterwards, as some are apt to do—water 
them, weed them, top dress them, tie up neatly to 
stakes, or hedge round with small pieces of bushes such 
as need it; and if they fail to give pleasure it will not, 
I think, be from any fault of the flowers. Sow early 
enough to get a good bloom as soon as possible in the 
summer.— R. D. 
-->A<-- 
ROSE CULTURE IN POTS. 
There are few plants that submit to pot culture 
in which there has been such a marked increase in the 
cultivation during recent times as with Roses. The 
treatment of certain flowers or fruits, so as to have them 
in all the year round, is not unusually held up as the 
highest evidence of cultural skill, where as often as 
otherwise such out-of-season productions are not wanted 
and not cared for. But this does not hold good with 
Roses, which are amongst the few things that people 
