Blue flowers

Blue is a botanical marvel: fewer than one in ten flowering plants produces true blue, because there is no pure blue pigment — plants have to mix it laboriously from anthocyanins and just the right cell chemistry. Precisely this rarity makes blue flowers so coveted. In the language of flowers, blue stands for loyalty, constancy and longing — the “blue flower” was the Romantics' symbol of the unattainable.

The most honest blues come from delphinium with its tall, deep-blue flower spires, the cornflower in its unmistakable cornflower blue and the delicate forget-me-not. Then there are hydrangeas, the only ones that owe their colour to the soil: they only bloom truly blue on acidic ground containing aluminium. Grape hyacinths, iris and globe thistle extend the palette from spring into late summer.

Because blue visually recedes, it needs clever partners in a bouquet: with white and plenty of greenery you get a fresh, almost maritime look, with pink and lavender a soft pastel picture. Most exciting is the complementary contrast with orange and apricot — just a few orange ranunculus make deep-blue delphinium positively glow. A purely blue bouquet, by contrast, feels calm, cool and very refined.

A practical note from the workbench: blue blooms are often more delicate than they look. Delphinium is a heavy drinker and wants fresh water every two days, while hydrangeas also absorb water through their petals — if they flag, a short overnight bath upside down works wonders. And because true blue sells out fast at the Veiling, we buy it early in the morning as soon as the season is on.