Houstonia caerulea - photographic essay

[maggiepie]

Rodger, I have never seen bluets for sale in fact I have often wondered why they aren't offered as they are wonderful in my garden.
I have some in a place that gets very neglected as far as watering goes, the only thing that fazes them there is when some of the neighbourhood cats decide to crap on them.
Btw, they grow well indoors if they get morning sun, I used to have some on my windowsill in the kitchen. Was lovely to see blue flowers in winter.

Mark, all my seedlings grow into tight little clumps. I have never seen a scraggy looking one.

Here's a pic of a couple of seedlings I dug up and brought inside for winter.
I don't think mine get more than around 2 inches in height , not counting the flowers.
Will have to measure them in Spring.

[TheOnionMan]

Mention of bluets takes me back a long time. When I was in elementary school in the early 1950s, in the suburbs of Washington DC, there were school-sponsored Saturday morning nature walks; we'd bus to some site of interest and there be exposed to Ma Nature.

Unfortunately, they are only an annual for me. Can't handle our infernal dry summers. But when I see them in the spring, as happens quite often, I will buy a pot for old time's sake and a walk down memory lane. Truly a sentimental journey!

Glad this plant could evoke such a fond memory; it's funny how this works.  This plant has a similar sentimental effect for me.  As a young boy I already had an interest in plants and wildflowers.  The scrappy grass in our backyard had more common violet (V. sororia) and the white purple-striped confederate violet (Viola sororia f. priceana) than it had grass.   At the edge of the lawn were my favorite; bluets.  In brushy areas that bounded our property were Trillium cernuum, Arisaema triphyllum (in varied colors from all-green spathes to dramatic blackish-brown spathes with whitish stripes), and poison ivy en masse.  Whenever I see any of these plants now (except the poison ivy), suddenly I feel like an 8 year old boy again.

[TheOnionMan]

I've also had seed of HH. acerosa and rubra but neither has germinated, alas.

There are some very interesting Houstonia (or Hedyotis) species in western USA.  I once had H. rubra but it died quickly.  Here are some photo links:
http://www.alplains.com/images/HoustRubra.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madridminer/3633361118/#
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54352856@N04/5143280033/#

[TheOnionMan]

Mark, all my seedlings grow into tight little clumps. I have never seen a scraggy looking one.

Here's a pic of a couple of seedlings I dug up and brought inside for winter.
I don't think mine get more than around 2 inches in height , not counting the flowers.
Will have to measure them in Spring.

Fortunately you seem to have a rather good form, and of a very good color.  By the way, I have seen bluets for sale at nurseries in this area, where they jack up the price because they are in the "wild flowers" section of the perennials benches, where such plants are sold at a premium.  I've never bothered to purchase, as I figure I can just collect some if I really wanted to.

[Lesley Cox]

I get your point - at last - Mark and I seem to have a naturally loose form, the Millard's var, so seed of Helen's would be good. What does edaphic mean? It's not in my dictionary.

I really like the H. rubra. From its surroundings it would perhaps be more drought tolerant than the eastern species.

[maggiepie]

Fortunately you seem to have a rather good form, and of a very good color.  By the way, I have seen bluets for sale at nurseries in this area, where they jack up the price because they are in the "wild flowers" section of the perennials benches, where such plants are sold at a premium.  I've never bothered to purchase, as I figure I can just collect some if I really wanted to.

I have only seen them growing in one place, so not easy to replace mine if I lost them.
That's why I get a bit obsessive with them and stick them everywhere.

[TheOnionMan]

I get your point - at last - Mark and I seem to have a naturally loose form, the Millard's var, so seed of Helen's would be good. What does edaphic mean? It's not in my dictionary.

I really like the H. rubra. From its surroundings it would perhaps be more drought tolerant than the eastern species.

edaphic:
Of or relating to soil, especially as it affects living organisms.
Influenced by the soil rather than by the climate.

[TheOnionMan]

Just sharing some google search information on Houstonia:

Houstonia caerulea, image from Missouri Plants (very unusual with dark reddish foliage):
http://www.missouriplants.com/Blueopp/Houstonia_caerulea_page.html

Houstonia rubra (Red Bluets) - a nice looking Southwestern American species
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-lifeform=any&rel-taxon=equals&where-taxon=Houstonia+rubra

http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=224

Houstonia wrightii (Pygmy Bluet, Southwestern American species)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HOWR&photoID=howr_001_avp.tif

http://www.nazflora.org/Houstonia_wrightii.htm

http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=1540

...this link has a photo that shows a handsome plant:
http://www.wnmu.edu/academic/nspages2/gilaflora/houstonia_wrightii.html

[TheOnionMan]

Does anyone know who Millard of H. caerulea 'Millard's Variety' refers to?

[johnw]

Just sharing some google search information on Houstonia:

Houstonia caerulea, image from Missouri Plants (very unusual with dark reddish foliage):
http://www.missouriplants.com/Blueopp/Houstonia_caerulea_page.html

Damn. I just realized from the link and the foliage shown this is the little "weed " I have been pulling out of my troughs and a peaty area in the garden for the last 10 years.

johnw

[maggiepie]

Damn. I just realized from the link and the foliage shown this is the little "weed " I have been pulling out of my troughs and a peaty area in the garden for the last 10 years.

johnw

Arghhhhhhh!!
Hopefully you haven't totally eradicated them. I don't think I have ever seen red leafed ones.

[Lvandelft]

Does anyone know who Millard of H. caerulea 'Millard's Variety' refers to?

A very interesting question, Mark but I remembered having read somewhere about it.
Here is the answer:

Mr. F.W. Millard was a gardener in Sussex and with his wife owner of Camla Gardens.
There are several plants originated here and some got the cv. name ‘Camla’,
or ‘Camlaensis’.
The gardens were at their best in the 1930’s.
In AGS Bulletin Vol XXV, 1957,  pp. 290-299 is a good article about the garden.

We grew Houstonia Millard’s var. more than 25 years as H. sepyllifolia Millard’s var. but
Hortus Third says that (Houstonia = Hedyotis) H. serpyllifolia is H. michauxii.

The strange thing is that in The Plantfinder mentions a Houstonia Fred Mullard,  but this will probably the same plant.
I believe the H. Millard’s Var. is more cultivated on the Eur. Continent than in GB.

[David Nicholson]

There is also a Primula marginata cultivar 'Millard's Variety'

[Lesley Cox]

I really like the dark foliage form. It would set off the blue flowers very nicely. I'm pretty sure Mr Millard was called Fred. As for 'Camla,' the Phlox of that name (a subulata var?) is very good, a large flowered soft pink.

[TheOnionMan]

Mr. F.W. Millard was a gardener in Sussex and with his wife owner of Camla Gardens.
We grew Houstonia Millard’s var. more than 25 years as H. sepyllifolia Millard’s var. but
Hortus Third says that (Houstonia = Hedyotis) H. serpyllifolia is H. michauxii.

Thanks Luit. I haven't looked at Reginald Farrer's The English Rock Garden for quite some time, so I checked out the entry for Houstonia, and I was surprised that he waxes poetic on the genus: "Houstonia, a family of American rubiads, of charm and daintiness inestimable, of which the oldest and still the favourite in cultivation is H. coerulea..." and he goes on.

Damn. I just realized from the link and the foliage shown this is the little "weed " I have been pulling out of my troughs and a peaty area in the garden for the last 10 years.
johnw 

John, maybe your weed is H. serpyllifolia and not H. caerulea?  Not sure of the last word on whether H. serpyllifolia = H. michauxii, or even what the dispostion of the genus names Hedyotis versus Houstonia, the Rubiaceae is not yet published in the new Flora of North America.

Also found this little snippet regarding Houstonia:  Linnaeus dedicated this genera to Dr. William Houston, an English botanist who collected in tropical America, and who died in 1733. There are about twenty-five species of this genus in North America.