I think the true gardener is a lover of his flowers, not a critic of them.
I think the true gardener is the reverent servant of Nature, not her truculent, wife-beating master.
I think the true gardener, the older he grows, should more and more develop a humble, grateful and uncertain spirit.
Reginald Farrer, In a Yorkshire Garden, 1909



Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Blue butterfly flower

The beautiful flower
Isn't this simply gorgeous? I first came to know about this plant when I read about it in My Nice Garden blog. The pics in the blog were so nicely taken that I wanted the same plant for myself. And that got me visiting the local nurseries here to look for that specific plant. Normally, I would go into a local nursery just to see what they have there and what plants catches my eye.

Robust growth
But with this blue butterfly, I went with a mission. And it wasn't long before I found it tucked in some corner of the nursery covered in weeds. It was already a matured plant with roots growing out of the pot. I think it was just left to grow on its own and there were no proper trimming. But as you can see from the pic (left), there were a lot of leaves and since it looked rather healthy to me, I bought it.

A tiny blue butterfly
However, when I saw the flower, I was like... what? so tiny? Well, its a small little flower actually. I didn't realize how small it is. In photos, it looks big but the real thing is small and tender. If you are not careful and knocked into it, the flower will just drop to the ground. Its not so suitable to be placed in open space since the flower will not be able to take the beating of the rain. I still have the plant in my backyard but it has since shed too many of its leaves. I think the pot is too small and the soil is no longer suitable. I will probably need to change to a bigger pot and remove the old soil.

4 comments:

  1. Is this really a small flower or it just appeared to be small because it lacks growth?

    Anyway, this is a very gorgeous flower indeed.This could obviously attract many flashy blue butterflies.

    David Wofford
    Click here for butterfly flowers, attracting butterflies, and how to attract butterflies

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  2. Hi David. You are the first person to drop me a comment on my blog. Thank you. To your question, no its simply a small flower, probably around an inch in size. It would look very attractive when there are plenty of blooms. Otherwise it might not get noticed. But the rare color of blue makes it a very unique plant.

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  3. Ben, this is actually a shrub which if planted on the ground where it will grow into a bush. You can also plant it in a pot. The flower is not big but if the plant is established and growing well, there will be many blooms. The flowers attracts many butterflies and bees. It is indeed a very special plant which not many people have, including me, I haven't been able to get hold of this plant yet!

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  4. Hi Autumn Belle. Thank you for your kind comment and for being the first to join this site. Appreciate it. With this post and your comment, I now have a renewed interest in the plant and will try to repot it soon. I think I should be able to propagate it through stem cutting, so if you are interested in growing one, do let me know.

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Thanks for your comment. Appreciate it. Will do my best to reply. Drop your blog link too so that I can pay you a visit. Cheers!