Summer and periwinkle

Starting top left, going clockwise: the blue flowers on the tree next to my house, then jacaranda, campanula, and 2 photos of the lilies of the valley across the street.

I’m taking a step out of my typical posts for this entry.  It occurred to me  the other day that it’s curious that at the beginning of summer, when the sun is a light, yellowish-white globe in the sky, at its hottest and brightest all year, that many of the flowers that bloom at this time of year are periwinkle, almost perfectly complimentary to it on the color wheel: the jacaranda, campanulas and agapanthus (more poetically called lillies of the valley).  They are the most wonderful color of periwinkle (also a fun word to say, and named after a tropical plant related to vinca.  Oops, side trip.)  Blue violet in juxtaposition to the sun.

So here’s a peek at what I see in my immediate vicinity these days: my neighbor’s jacaranda tree fills the view out the sliding door to my deck; across the street the front yard is packed with agapanthus plants whose buds are about to burst open like violet-blue fireworks.  Then there’s the campanula that’s planted in the large pot with one of my plumeria on the deck, lovely star-shaped blossoms overflowing the edge of the pot.  And finally, a small tree with amazing little blue flowers that is growing at my front door.  I have no idea what they are called, but I love them.  If only my blue hydrangea was blue-ming too!