Botanic Bleu: May - The Blue Hour

l'heure bleue en mai

the blue hour in May

Because of its beauty that makes time stop for an instant, the expression l'heure bleue has come to describe a variety of special times and events, not just a description of a special blue glow at dusk. Each month in 2016, I am sharing a collage of blue images that create a little l'heure bleue for me.

belle fleurs bleues

beautiful blue flowers

Belle fleurs bleues has such a nice ring when said aloud.

Try it... say it aloud.

A woven wicker basket filled with belle fleurs bleues hanging from the handlebars of a blue bicycle makes me break into a great big smile with my eyes dancing. Can't you just see Anne Hathaway, maybe Jennifer Anniston, or possibly even Meryl Streep pedaling this bleu bicycle and flower filled basket in a small New England town, with wide smiles of their own, hair blowing in the breeze, and glimpses of a sparkling sea between white clapboard houses?

Not just any blue flowers... but the queen of flowers in my heart, blue hydrangea, and the queen of flowers along the Nile, agapanthus or commonly called Lily of the Nile. To my eyes, these two reign supreme among flowers.

Oh, there are many other beautiful blue flowers that I love also. Lobelia, blue sage, delphiniums,

B L U E B O N N E T S.

But my heart is true to hydrangeas and agapanthus.

Grown in my mother's flower gardens, there has always been an abundance of blue hydrangeas. My sister is transplanting some of Mother's plants to my house in Texas. Fingers crossed they survive the north Texas heat and ME.

Since I have not been a successful hydrangea gardner in north Texas, hydrangeas make appearances from the local grocery store and printed on small fabric cocktail napkins in this chirping bird table setting.

Of course there is a French connection.

Is it any surprise that agapanthus grow in the South of France and in neighboring Monte Carlo? The royal garden of Monte Carlo is the first place I remember seeing agapanthus.

Since seeing them in the South of France and Monte Carlo, blue agapanthus make regular appearances in pots on my decks. When winters are mild, they will over winter and return, but when we have ice and snow, they are killed.

What is your favorite flower that gives you a little l'heure bleue?

Now I'm off pretending to ride a blue bicycle with a wicker basket filled with belle fleurs bleues.

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Stay tuned this week.

Soon there will be a peek at a little craft

I am sharing at an upcoming event

for Texas bloggers at

At Home With Jemma.

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