Saturday, June 9, 2007

FEELING BLUE


On certain spring and summer Fridays when my garden looks its best, I reward myself for a week of diligent work by inviting a friend to lunch. After getting a sneak preview of the chapter that I had worked on all week, my friend braved the hot and humid afternoon to take a tour of my garden.

She commented on the profusion of blue flowers and assortment of ceramic pots in several shades of blue. “Blue flowers make a garden feel cooler,” I said, as we lingered alongside a clump of delphinium ‘Blue Mirror’.

We decided to move our French garden party lunch of champignon (mushroom) cheese (served on a swirl of hosta leaves), an artfully arranged salad Nicoise (romaine leaves, hard boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, tiny string beans, nicoise olives and tuna, apple thyme tea bread and chocolate mint iced tea indoors. Later, as I was clearing the dishes off the table (covered in a vintage blue tablecloth), I found myself thinking of the many ways I bring blue into my home during the summer months.

Blue doesn’t just refresh a sunny flowerbed...
it lends a fresh feel to any room. Go bold with walls painted nautical blue.

Even small splashes of Horchow's sky blue enamel utensils make a kitchen sigh “ahh”.

MY FIVE FAVORITE BLUE FLOWERS
Hydrangea ‘Nikko Blue”

Plumbago ‘Imperial Blue’ (www.logees.com)

‘Perle d’Azure’ clematis (www.heronswood.com)

Delphinium ‘Blue Mirror’ (www.reneesgarden.com)

Scaevola (Fanflower) “New Wonder’ from Proven Winners®

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blue is my 2nd favorite color (next to pink of course) I mean who can resist TIFFANY blue? Love the pictures in this post!

Cindy said...

Hi, I just found your blog and wanted to say welcome to blogging. Your header photo took my breath away! That is my dream room!

Cathy said...

Dearest Barbara,
I wish you all the best in your book writing endeavor. I thank you for making my dreams come true by publishing photographs of my "Little Pink Gingerbread Shed" last year. I hope I can continue to communicate with you from time to time just to say hello. I am sad you are leaving your Editing situation, but am sure you will just love the opportunity to write something just for yourself. Best of luck in all that you choose to do.

Cathy, Treasured Heirlooms

Gypsy Purple said...

What a stunning blog you have!!!!

Natasha Burns said...

Hi Barbara,
Love all the blue! I love Grape Hyacinths as my favourite blue flower, they last such a short time and smell so unique!

Would you be able to email me at enquiries@natashaburns.com so I can then reply with my address, rather than me posting my address here! I'd love to get a copy of Romantic Country but I don't know that I can afford to be spending the equivalent of AU$20 on one copy again with postage costing more than the magazine itself! Isn't that weird!!
Natasha