Spring blues begin with a carpet of crocus at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, signalling the end of winter. I don’t have photos but Blue Squills are another early spring blue flower that I used to enjoy in Central Park.
Then would come the Virginia bluebells in Central Park. I discovered them in the North West of Central Park while walking my dog Eti in those woods and it became a tradition for us to mark the beginning of Spring with him posing beside them. It meant the beginning of good weather and many more regular walks in the woods. Sadly this photo was the last one, he passed away later that year. Seeing the bluebells would always be a painful reminder of him, and it took a few years before I could revisit that path.
Blue flowers are rare in nature making it the most uncommon flower color. Fewer than 10% of flowers are blue. The reason being, it’s often difficult for plants to produce the necessary blue pigment or have the influenced of other environmental factors, like pH.
Yet some plants use complex combinations of anthocyanins flavins and even metals to do this as there are real benefits to producing a blue colour as flowers are primarily visited by insects like bees and butterflies, but may also attract wasps and flies. For some flowers, their blue color may be part of their strategy to attract the most effective pollinators. Which is why blue flowers can sometimes be found in harsher environments because the competition to attract pollinators is a real incentive for this.
Shakespeare Garden
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Shakespeare
Soundtrack: English Suite No. 6 in D Minor, Gavotte in D (minor) J Sayles
The Shakespeare Garden at Central park is planted with trees, shrubs, flowers, and herbs mentioned in William Shakespeare’s plays and poems. There’s enough blue flowering plants planted with lush ferns to tell a lovely blue woodland story . Plants include alliums, English bluebells, violets, pansies, snakes head fritallaries and more.
In the Mamaroneck garden there were clumps of blue iris and plenty of wild violets in the vegetable beds. On the Highline there were masses of phlox growing through the old railroad tracks.
