[Cali]

I've noticed that many of the wild flowers I've been picking in the last week are in shades of blue. Here's a sampler of: Bellevalia ciliata,Muscari commutatum, Muscari armeniacum (naturalised), Iris unguicularis, Anemone blanda (naturalised), Anemone de Caen (naturalised), Hyacinthoides hispanica (naturalised), Viola odorata, Tristagma (naturalised)

[ezeiza]

Cali, where do those Bellevalia ciliata come from? They are very uncommon in cultivation.

[Cali]

They're not in cultivation--they grow in the wild.

[Alisdair]

Cali, though many of these are wild flowers I'm tempted to move this to the month-by-month section on Our Gardens, as the timing thing seems to fit better there.
I'm away from home but can't check, but I have a faint recollection that Jackie Tyrwhitt in her book about Sparoza noticed a similar sort of thing, with blue flowers now, then the yellows rather later?

[Cali]

After the querry by ezeiza I've been moved to my identification (of many years standing so I no longer remember my source) of this muscari-like wild flower that is now in bloom around here. Any opinions? Oron?

[Cali]

I don't know, Alisdair. Many are quite small so you have to be up close to see them so they can't be said to affect the landscape, the way the masses of white daisies do right now. The only blues in evidence from any distance are the Lunarias, though even they look more purple than blue in full sunlight.  My copy of Jackie's book has disappeared so I can't check either. (One of those ill-advised loans!)The yellows have already started, even though we don't have the tinctoria daisies you see on the mainland.
More wild blues in bloom now: One I'm pretty sure is an Anchusa but I've no idea what kind, one I think is a Veronica of some sort and one Lunaria. I'd appreciate help in identification.

[oron peri]

Cali,
It is Bellevalia dubia.
Distributed from  Italy to Turkey, including Greece.

[Cali]

Thank you, Oron. Any ideas about the Anchusa or possible Veronica?

[oron peri]

Cali
Anchusa seems like  A. cretica [difficult to say from this photo]
Lunaria is L. annua
Veronica is V. persica

[pamela]

I have definitely read before that the blue flowers bloom first in the wild and then the yellows.....

[ezeiza]

Thank you, Cali.

Oron, you should write a book some time.

[Alisdair]

Alberto, Oron is hard at work doing exactly that! (Which explains why he's not such a frequent poster on the forum at the moment....)
And, Alberto, we're all waiting for your book, too!

[Cali]

Thank you, Oron. Delighted to hear about the book.
Cali

[Cali]

Another wild blue: Gynandris monophylla. Opened last week

[Alisdair]

Peter Goldblatt's latest revision has reclassified the gynandriris as Moraea mediterranea.