Friday Flowers - More blues 11-07-14

Yes, I am fond of blue flowers, so I thought I would give you a double dose.  

Here is the plumbago again, so you can compare it to the next flower image.  The petals are regular and symmetrical.  It grows as a bush, almost a vine which can be trained to a trellis. 

And this is vinca.  Notice that both have five petals and the little five sided center, but vinca petals are irregular and twist counter clockwise.  Vinca grows as a ground cover and is considered a invasive species in the slopes of the western Sierra.  One quality it is treasured for is it's ability to grow and blossom in  heavily shaded areas. 

This is agapanthus, or Lily of the Nile, just as the blossom is opening it is very dark blue. 

Here are some blossoms and a pod from a Jacaranda tree.   The flowers come on before the leaves so the trees are a spectacular blue-violet. 

Here is a close up showing the trumpet shaped flowers with the three lobed mouth.  These trees are not planted much locally any more because they are so messy.  But in older neighborhoods they are plentiful and even used for street trees which are now towering giants.  Due to the drought the blossoms were sparse and the leaves came on (weakly) along with the flowers.