Cool Summer Blues

Globe Thistle (Echinops Ritro)

Chickory (Cichorium intybus)

Cool blue on a hot humid summer morning. . . . The Globe thistles in the garden behind the little blue house (which is not such a cool place these days in spite of its colour and the surrounding trees) are at least four feet high, and they are topped with marvellous big spheres of intricate blooms which are real architectural wonders.

There is an abundance of Chickory here this year, dense clouds of intense blue flowers floating along the roadsides in Lanark in ghostly clusters. This introduced cousin of the aster family is one of the toughest perennials around. Over the summer it will be mowed down times without number by road maintenance crews, sprayed regularly with the oil used to coat the verges and keep dust down, and it will be routinely trampled by trucks and campers. It returns from all these ordeals cheerful and resilient, and its blooms are brighter and even more abundant when it returns.

Then there is the lovely lavender blue pot I discovered in the ditch last weekend while cleaning up in Lanark. It was in pristine condition and I carried it home to the village to fill with marigolds.