Blue, blue, my world is blue

 Blue, blue, my world is blue. No, I’m not feeling down, even if the garden is sleeping. Those words are from a song from way back that has stuck in my head and comes to mind whenever I look at blue flowers. Blue is rare in flowers, true blue, that is. Peer closely and there’s typically a hint of purple in tiny streaks throughout the petals or concentrated near the centre. I call it catalogue blue where the blueness is promoted with a glossy picture that’s as blue as can be.

However, take a step back and blue flowers will look blue enough. It’s a favourite of many gardeners and well sought after. There are many plants with varying shades from the elusive blue poppy to the blue hydrangea, except the former does not do well in the heat and humidity of southern Ontario while the later will keep its pinkness in our alkaline soil. And still gardeners will take on the challenge to grow them.

An easier one is the popular morning glory called ‘Heavenly Blue’ often seen climbing fences, trellises, and sometimes hydro poles. It can each three metres (ten feet) and it puts out fresh flowers daily from summer to fall.

 I do love blue flowers and I have one blooming right now, indoors, and the flowers are as blue as Homer Simpson’s pants — okay maybe not that shade, and they do have the tiniest hint of purple. It’s not the morning glory although it is in the same family, and commonly known as dwarf morning-glory.

The name is Evolvulus alsinoides, and despite being a distant cousin to the more familiar morning glories, it makes no attempt to climb anything but it might trail a little. The plant is a hybrid from Proven Winners called Evolvulus ‘Blue My Mind’, although there are similar plants from different producers with names like ‘Beach Bum Blue’ or ‘Blue Daze’.

 I grew it outdoors in summer in a planter and I liked it so much I brought it indoors for winter where it’s now happily flowering away. Come spring I’ll return it to the garden because it’s a tender perennial sold as an annual, as are many plants. It has to be growing a few zones to the south to stay alive outside through winter.

 Mine didn’t flower as well outdoors as it has in past years because this summer was cooler and wet. That’s not surprising since this plant loves sun and heat but not the cold. In the wild it grows like a weed in a band of tropical and warm temperate regions around the globe, in habitats ranging from marshland to deserts.

Evolvulus is not a large plant, only growing to a few inches high, and outdoors it will do best alone in a planter where it doesn’t have to compete with more vigorous plants. It loves hot sun and when growing well it can survive for a while should someone forget to water it.

The flowers are much the same shape and colour as the heavenly blue morning glory, but they’re much smaller, about the size of a dime or maybe a nickel — remember real money? The leaves are small, too, greyish green and hairy if you look close enough. You’ll see them when you’re peering closely, trying to spot that bit of purple. If I had favourites (oh no, not me), this one would be high on the list.

Blue, blue, my world is blue — rhymes much better than purple. Paul Mauriat’s ‘Love Is Blue’ was fourth in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. Darn those ear worms.