Aster

Have you seen this around? Hub says it's called "Herftstaster" or Autumn Aster in English. It's been here before me so I don't know what it's name is. Asters look the same and just differ in colors but there are so many kinds of "Herftstasters" and since I can't tell which one this is, if you happen to do so - give me a link to prove that is it what you think it is for 1SBD. Let this few information help you. It grows on full sun. They don't need much attention and bloom from August till sometimes late October (depends) on how warm the autumn stretch has been. The buds of the flower starts in purplish thin petals to this light blue.

It could get invasive so it could make your whole garden very very attractive. Every kind of pollinator loves them and you could trim the flowers, place them in a vase and it would just encourage the main stem to branch out and sprout more flowers. Sometimes, there would still be flowers in November - still depends on how warm the autumn has been. Hub trims them in March at the same time he does the Buddleja.

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Chicory

Cichorium intybus is which chicory to be exact? This chicory just popped out of the soil - where it is pretty dry, coarse and almost none was growing - just right under that sycamore tree where the sun is till full since the tree is already too tall it allows the sun to peep through it's naked main branch. I suppose a bird - either the red breast Robin that often visits the tree beside the Buddleja or the great tits that feed on the black aphids delivered by black ants to the sycamore leaves.

It's a weed and its leaves look like that of a dandelion - just thinner so I let it grow thinking it was a dandelion and I could get its roots later to make tea since dandelion roots help detoxify our liver. To my surprise - it has grown long branches that has thin stems that bear tiny blue flowers. They bloom from July till June. Yes, I think they are pretty and I'd want them to stay in the garden but hub says it could get very invasive so we got rid of it. I pulled out its roots and it looks like that of a dandelion as well and hub says it was used as coffee a long time ago. No, I didn't try making coffee out of it. Whether it would still grow back i have no idea .

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Morning Glory

It's also called - "Dwarf Morning Glory" and Convolvulus tricolor. This is one of those seeds I got from Green Peace. The very first seeds I got were just three and I let them germinate in pots inside the green house. I sow them in March and they bloom in July till September.

Like the pollinators, I love them cause their flower looks so fragile and for their color contrast. They look like funnels and has very soft petals. No, they are not edible in fact, they are poisonous. They get easily scorched when we hit 30 degree celcius so I planted them in a pot where the Passion plant grows since it looked so empty and placed a few Nigellas beside it. I put them there so the pine tree beside the pot could provide shadow for the flowers in case it gets super warm in summer. Though they are annuals, they just reappear every year, I don't have to collect their seeds either.

Mountain Cornflower

Centaurea Montana also called Mountain Cornflower is like a miracle to have in the garden. I bought it as a young plant and just placed them where the Ibis Pink Ice grow in the back yard. During its first week, I had to look for the garden slugs that gnawed on its leaves. I had to put cracked shells of pistachio nuts and egg shells on the soil around it so it could grow because the naked snails must have thought it's their salad. They were munching on it to the last leaf.

It has survived many naked snails attack and finally it started[ flowering in May](() . It was stressed out from getting too much attention from me and the snails but it has managed to produce blooms.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just the snails that pest it. The black ants delivered it black aphids that hid under its crunchy leaves. It has also survived it with a little help of the dragonflies, hover flies and lady bugs around. One stem gives out three blooms and when all of those lovely flowers wither, the whole stem browns with the leaves and finally withers. Worry not, a sprout would eventually pop out again and they're winter hardy.

Though I already knew that they would just come popping out of the ground, I've decided to still collect the seeds so I could grow them soon. These are what the seeds look like. They are smooth like that of a sunflower's.

All of these blue flowers are not high maintenance and are effective on attracting pollinators. I find them all lovely and I do hope the chicory itself would sprout back since I wasn't really able to pull out the whole root. I have learned from all the gardening shows from UK that I've been watching (my favorite is that of Monty's) that blue flowers tend to attract pollinators for your fruit bearing plants in your back yard. Most of all, having plenty of flowers in your garden would save the bees.

Which of these blue flowers would you want to have in your garden?

I took all of these pictures with my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 edition and made the gifs here.

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Here are my other gardening articles:

• Edible Allium Cepa
• An Open Notes Gardening Quiz on Some Flowers That Look Alike
• Echinacea
• Boraginaceae
• Borage ...
• How 'bout Having Some Love - In - A - Mist in Your Garden ?
• Pluck 'Em Not

• Grow Your Own Tropical Mangoes in Western Europe and Other Countries with Hard Winters
• Grow Your Own Citrus Plant in Pots in Your Own Backyard or Veranda and Even Indoors in Cold Countries
• How and Which Tropical Plants Can You Actually Grow in Cold Countries
• My Log in Growing My Own Moringa Plant Indoors in A Cold Country, Half a Year Later
• Garden Hacks : On Propagating Sweet Potato Plants
• Gardening Hacks : On Planting Tomatoes and Other Nightshade Plants
• Follow My Experiment Log on Planting Chestnuts and Walnuts From Seeds

• Gardening Hacks : Basic Tips in Growing Cacti Indoors
• Which Cactus Is This?
• Tips on Propagating Succulents Like Echeverias

• Flowers That Are Still In Bloom in Late Autumn, 2016
• Firethorns in Autumn
• Mispel or The Medlar Fruit

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