Plant for Those of You Who Love Blue

There are only a few annuals I'll let myself buy. This is new one. I just couldn't pass up the blue. Some say it's a vine, some say it's a subshrub.

Oxypetalum caerulea aka tweedia caerulea

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.smgrowers.com/imagedb/Tweedia_caerulea.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp%3Fplant_id%3D1573&h=300&w=300&sz=22&hl=en&start=12&um=1&tbnid=j94mGEeMiRZmXM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Doxypetalum%2Bcaerulea%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Oh my. It instills plant lust.

Good thing I don't have any time to make room somewhere (heck, I don't even have time to make room for all the things I already did buy) or I'd be buying one. Of course, I guess I could put it in one of my empty blue pots!!!

I always think of you now when I see a blue plant. Good thing I'm not rich or you'd be getting them in the mail . . .

katie..that sure is a pretty one. The monarch butterfly love milkweed! Maybe they will stop by your house when migrating south this winter.
the google link shows it as a perennial hardy 20-25 F. May work here in Silverton . Not sure about your winter temps where you live..
hopefully it can survive more than one season.

Wouldn't that be a treat!! I'm going to try it and will mulch in the fall. We'll see.

I have lots of dragonflies and some butterflies in the summer. Hopefully will have more hummingbirds and bitterflies as I get more of these crowd pleasers in.

Oh you HAVE this plant??? I had no idea! So..............Kathy my friend................does it reproduce by cuttings?? I assume you will be taking some to carry over the winter, just in case of an untimely demise..... Or perhaps a link to where you found it? (Not that I've looked for it yet. But I shall.)

Sweet! I have just the spot for one.
Thanks for the info.

Hey, couldn't find a source.
Do you know of one locally?

This message was edited Jun 4, 2008 10:18 AM

I just "happened" on it at a little nursery on Avondale Road - Classic Nursery. I'll look at the tag and see where they got it. I have two starts - not much yet, although they are blooming.

Melissa - if we can work it out, I'd love to lift it and bring it to you for overwintering and/or propagation in your lovely plant palace . . .

If I go by Classic this weekend, I'll stop in and see if they have any more.

Another great plant they have planted there, but aren't selling (my pet peeve. You should always sell what you display) is Cerinthe. It was in bloom and was lovely when I was there.

Well, Cerinthe is completely easy by seed. I may have some left. If not,, I'll have some this year. I have a cerinthe in bloom out front. It seeded itself and I let it stay there.

We can talk about the overwintering thing. Depends on how big it is. My greenhouse is generally packed over the winter with all my succulents.

Well, I can overwinter it here with my setup. I just thought if you wanted to assure that you got one, I'd be happy to put one to work for you. But I do understand the full greenhouse thing.

So I checked the tags. The Tweedia came from Langley Fine Farms on Vashon. I'm thinking that maybe Annie's Annuals has it - seems like I saw it on there.

If you have extra cerinthe seed, then I'd love some. Maybe I should check the plant at the nursery and see how it's doing. They are so small; I'm sure they'd be happy to share the seed.

Look what I found!!

http://www.avantgardensne.com/catalog/product.cgi/1/130/3550/P1/default/N/0

Hey!! Have you ever ordered from them before?

You guys got me going on the blue flower porn addiction again. :)
Found this article with blue flower descriptions, unfortunately they don't link to an image.

http://flowergardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_blue_flower_garden

I still managed to research and purchase $100. worth last night.
What was I thinking?! Well, next year I will be so happy I made room for them.

Thanks, Neo.

No, Pix, I haven't. I was just amazed that they weren't anywhere online for sale - people who had them seemed to be sold out of them. Seeds and plants - so I waded through all the Google search results and found them.

Looks like they are worthy of more than just a glance:
http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/13/

They require a $30 dollar order.
I just added the tweedia to my cart, plus they also have
the Salvia "Black and Blue" that I have been wanting.

That still only totals 13.95.

I was going to place an order for three plants, total 36.00, but then I saw the shipping charges. They are in Massachusetts. For orders to WA they have a 20$ minimum for shipping, plus 3.50 per plant. That's about 30$ for shipping. Ouch.

Yeah, I just did the same thing.
Decided not to order when I saw the shipping charge.
We'll find it closer!

Ouch is right. I wonder if they have enought DGers that they'd make an exception if you emailed them. Just a thought.

Langley might still have some - just couldn't find anything on their site. And, of course, I'll check at Classic this weekend.

This iris is one I would consider "blue". Picture is not the best as wind and rain has taken its toll. The best part besides the bluish color..is the varigated leaves.

Macro shot of the leaves..

What ever those are in the background look killer blue to me. yum!
Oh, and the lovely foliage to boot!

This message was edited Jun 6, 2008 10:51 AM

Okay. i checked today and there are about 5 more tweedia caerulea at Classic nursery in 2'' pots. They are small but healthy and blooming. I think they're about $3.99 each.

Neo, I have a black and blue, from Carole still young yet, when its ready to divide, will save you one.

Neo, I have other B & B starts - I'm not able to get away these days, but could try mailing one to you. Let me know.

Had to share this picture with you that my daughter took today. Not sure how this happened..perhaps light reflection but my purple wave petunia is now blue. How great would this be if it actually came in a blue color! We can dream!

Pretty! Every spring I look for a bluer pansy, mine are like yours,
sometimes they just look bluer than normal.
What kind of camera are you using?
I tried to find the macro2 and macro3 that you mentioned in another post,
but couldn't find them.

neofarmer. I may have given bad info.. Need to go to the photos forum
threads are macro - page 2 and macro -page 3
here is the first link
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/photos/all/

This delphinum called crystal fountain starts out kinda lavender but it
is blue now. Very pretty!

This message was edited Jun 8, 2008 8:20 PM

close up...

Bea, I have notice with some of my pics, the Blooms look purple with your eyes, but the camera turns them blue. but what makes purple! LOL
I look at the pic then at the flower and scratch my head, the pic looks better.

Kathy, where is this Classic Nursery of which you speak?

tilly.. I am not sure how that works...but this delphinum looks blue to my eyes and in the photo don't ya think? Its a pretty one for sure.

It is a pretty one, I don't mean all just some, like the Iris I took looks more blue in photo.

I guess that is why it is best to buy a plant when you can see it in bloom.
Sometimes I think I am getting an azure blue, from the tag, but alas, it looks purple to me when it blooms.
BTW, Mary, thanks for the offer on the B/B salvia. I order one last week and it should arrive soon.
I should have checked here first!

So Katie, did you buy any of the little tweedias? I would like to plant them next to a plant called Sylvester. ;)
Tills and murmur, I ordered some last week, so hopefully they will arrive soon.
Thanks for the offer!

This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 12:25 PM

I had bought a couple - just wanted to check for you guys since you hadn't been able to find any.

Well, I don't know when we would meet up, but if you go back, and you don't mind,
you could pick up one for me and hopefully it would make it's way over here.

Neo, I'm mostly lurking these days, but had to tell you that I had a good chuckle over your "Tweedia & Sylvester!"