Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Grape hyacinth (Muscari)

I think this specimen is Muscari ‘Valerie Finnis’.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Eye candy, batch #4

Sigh…culling through my archives, in preparation for my March/April 2012 exhibit, is making me want to photograph blooms and bugs right now.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Re-post: Blue than blue

Originally posted 2.2.2009

Remember that 1978 hit song, Bluer than Blue, by Michael Johnson? Check out the video on youtube. Kinda low budget video, isn’t it? Ah, well, it’s the song that matters, right? Another song of his that I love is, “The Moon is Still Over Her Shoulder.“

Let’s see—I’ve received three requests in response to my “what color collage next” question. One requested a collage showing variegation. One was a request for the color teal. Uh…thanks for the challenge, gals! And the third one was for blue, which just happened to be the color I was working on! (Jan of Thanks for Today blog and I were on the same wavelength.) I’ll work on those first two (more challenging) requests, but in the interim, here’s a collage of nothin’ but blue. Blue isn’t a really common color in the garden, yet I was surprised I had enough images in that color to create this collage. I would love to be able to grow the extra-heat-sensitive-needs-cool-rainy-summers (which we don’t have in Northern Virginia) lovely sky-blue Himalayan Blue Poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia), a native of southeastern Tibet.

Other blue flowers include:

Statice
Sea holly (Eryngium-–which I grow in my garden—and it is a beauty)
Hydrangea
Delphiniums
Chicory (shown below)
Love-in-a-mist (Nigella—shown below)
Cornflower
‘Heavenly Blue’ Morning Glory (shown below)
Forget-me-not
Bearded iris
Himalayan blue poppy (there are other shades of blue poppies as well)
Scabiosa (beautiful pale blue; I’ve grown them but they flop over too soon!)
Scilla
Veronica Speedwell
Globe thistle (Echinops)—I have several of these in my front garden
Muscari (grape hyacinth—some varieties lean more toward blue than deep purple)
Pride of Madeira (leans toward purple-blue—unbelievably beautiful plant—wish it would grow in our area)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Karen’s garden: Grape Hyacinths

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Male House Sparrow

When I was sitting on our front porch photographing the potted Grape Hyacinths on Sunday afternoon, this little bird landed less than 10 feet away from me. I turned to get this quick “record” shot before it flew off. I did a bit of sleuthing and I think this bird is a male House Sparrow.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Blooming in my garden: Grape Hyacinths

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.