The
beautiful little flowers I posted as bluettes in the previous post are neither
bluettes nor bluets, the correct spelling of their common name. They are, as Zhoen noted in her comment, a
form of Veronica spp; according
to various sites on the Internet, this plant occurs wild, but is sold in
nurseries as a ground cover. From photos
I found, it seems my Veronica is the variety ‘Waterperry Blue.’
The true bluet, (Houstonia
caerulea) pictured below, also a wild
flower, is a different plant all together; another name is Quaker Ladies. Bluets are found in undisturbed fields, in wooded areas (I've seen them growing in clumps of moss)and in urban backyards...though not in mine, more's the pity.
Both appear in blue forms,
both are tiny, both are beautiful.
(Thanks, Z, for piquing my curiosity which made me search for the facts.)
Photo (c) 2000, Janet Novak
13 comments:
Well, you know me, I'm a research junkie. I would have been perfectly content to believe it was just a different local name.
Gardenweb.com is an amazing resource.
Thanks for the resource, Z. I visited their site right after I read your comment, and am just now finished. Cool stuff, lots of plants I've never encountered, good gardening info.
Crow,
YOU READ IT ALL?
(kidding)
Oh, heavens, no!
Mostly I looked at pictures, visited the tools and resources section and skimmed through the container garden and urban gardens forums. Took me a little bit to understand what I was looking for and how to find it. I'll go back for more.
Say, what did you think of the garden art flower made of plates from Goodwill? I'd like to learn to make a couple of those.
I just Googled glass plate garden art (or something like that). The Internet is loaded with examples...some are so beautiful, made of clear colored glass.
See what following your pointers leads me to? Wonderful stuff!
I love these flowers. I also love just growing blue flowers for some unknown reason. Well blue and shades of purple anyway. Happy Spring to you. We are in Autumn in Australia and the colder weather is on its way.
Hello, Lilly;
I'd love to have those little star-shaped bluets in my yard - they're so pretty.
Hope winter is not too hard on you this year and that your garden is loaded with blues and purples! Thank you for stopping by.
In French there are certain areas where my vocabulary is pretty poor: women's clothes is one, flowers is another. However I remembered yet another spelling variant of the words you cited: bleuet which means cornflower and (in Canada) blueberry. For what it's worth.
One of the things I like so much about learning new words, especially in a language I don't know, is the interesting tidbits such as those you've provided.
Thanks, Robbie, for adding to my wonderment of language. That's worth a great deal to me.
I wonder why Quaker ladies, since historically Quakers were known for wearing gray and other sedate colors.
There is an edible mushroom found over here called a wood blewit. Different spelling of course. I have been looking at wild veroncas and speedwells prompted by your photograph. The Atlantic does not seem to have succeeded in separating flower species, though yours still look different from ours.
I am smiling to see how we, here, love words.
...and plants!
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