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Pale- Blue Flowers: When Farrer wrote of Meconopsis his thoughts were of a very beautiful flower, a flower that had become, like edelweiss, a legend in its own horticultural time. For these blossoms are four-petaled (sometimes up to ten) poppies with many golden stamens and colors that run the gamut from sky pale- blue flowers to pale pale- blue flowers to deep purple and an occasional lavender. But they are flowers that, unfortunately, could be most politely termed as 'difficult to grow."
Such variations make a huge difference to the effect of color combinations; different intensities of one basic color create a completely different feel. Take an apparently simple association of pale- blue flowers and yellow. Pale pale- blue flowers and pale yellow is a soft, unchallenging combination with a restful and airy feel to it. Now consider a mixture of golden yellow and violet pale- blue flowers and you have a far more vibrant and challenging effect which makes much more of a statement.
Other recommended foliage climbers include Actinidia kolomikta, with its startling pink- and white-tipped leaves. It also produces cup-shaped, white flowers in summer which look good against walls.
For a spectacular show, the passionflower Passiflora caerulea (z8-10) produces truly exotic-looking flowers consisting of white, sometimes pink-flushed, outer petals and a circle of fringed inner petals which are white coloring to pale pale- blue flowers or purple at the tips.
The center of each flower is surrounded by a band of dark pale- blue flowers or purple. Fremontodendron californicum is another spectacular climber with bright yellow, saucer-shaped flowers from late spring to mid-fall. It is also evergreen. Also yellow, Laburnum x watereri "Vossii"produces long, drooping panicles of deep yellow, pea-like flowers in early summer. It can be trained over an arch or arbor to create a dense tunnel of shimmering color. |
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