SEATTLE — Seattle gardening expert Ciscoe Morris’ July ‘Plant of the Month’ is a pretty periwinkle blue bloom with a romantic name.
"This is an old fashioned flower that you really want in your garden. It's called Love-in-a-mist, it's got this wonderful fine foliage, beautiful blue flowers," Ciscoe said. "They call it ‘love-in-a-mist’ because it's got these little furry things around the flower called the ruff that kinda does look like it's sitting in the mist.”
“These are indestructible, you hardly have to water them at all, you just spread the seeds and they go everywhere,” said Ciscoe. He added that he got his first one by plucking a seedpod from a friends garden and spreading the seeds in his own. “You have to do this in fall when they’re starting to open up - I spread the seeds and now I've got 12-million-seven-hundred-and-forty-two of these things!”
Love-in-a-mist is a hardy annual, and since they spread by self-seeding they may not be your plant if you don’t want a lot of them. But Ciscoe adds that stopping them from spreading is simple – they’re an easy plant to just pull out of the ground.
“One last thing, these seedpods are absolutely beautiful in bouquets,” said Ciscoe. "In fact, if you make a bouquet of the blue flowers and keep it watered, the flowers will eventually transform to seedpods in the vase."
Ciscoe likes to combine the pods with other flowers, and says if you do that, “You’ve got a bouquet that makes grown men cry when they walk in the door!”
Sponsored by Dramm.
KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.
