The green of life requires blue. . .*
At the front of our house, in two curvy planting beds, the Evolvulus ‘Blue Sapphire’ is thick and blooming heavily — in the morning.
By early afternoon, the flowers close up, and I’m left with just a small-leaved, grey-green ground cover — which is still pretty nice.
(Above: that’s a pink-blooming crape myrtle tree to the left, doing so-so — I’m going to give it a light pruning pretty soon and see if it will fill out a bit.)
I planted out little sprigs of the evolvulus last July. This open area used to be occupied by a large Norfolk pine. However, it was dying (see here; sixth photo) and had to be cut down.
I’m not very happy with the grass and stone arrangement on the left side of the center planting area (below). It looks rather ragged. One of these days, I plan to remove the turf grass (I really like to have a wee bit of Round-Up) and plant mondo grass between the stones — as well as take up a few stones and add a two or three mounding plants.
Below, the blooms of Evolvulus ‘Blue Sapphire’ are a true blue. It is a tropical plant, hardy to U.S. zones 8-11.
(Click on any of the photos to enlarge them or on ‘Continue reading’ below to scroll through all the bigger images.)
Below, I’ve also used it to edge the planting border along the upper lawn in front of the terrace. (A plan of our garden is here.)
Below is the same border from the other direction, standing at the center steps. (The red-flowering shrub/vine at the end is a Mussaenda erythrophylla.)
Below, the border continues on the left side of the steps. The tall yellow flowers are double Rudbeckia laciniata.
Below, the zinnias in our cutting garden (from last month’s GBBD) continue to be beautiful. The tall grass in the back is lemongrass.
To see what’s blooming in other garden bloggers’ gardens today, check out May Dreams Gardens.
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is the 15th of every month.
*by Robert L. Jones, from “Blue.”
enclos*ure 
Beautiful garden. The Evolvulus ‘Blue Sapphire’ looks perfect for your bed and border edging. My zone is 7b so it might work here too.
It might work, with protection — it also would be pretty in a pot arrangement.
Wow, your garden is beautiful.. I am so thankful for the internet. When we think of other parts of the world, I am sometime guilty of thinking its like another planet….I learn so much from things like blogging …like how beautiful flowers are in Rwanda …:) Your garden is spectacular.
Thanks! The internet is an amazing resource for gardeners. It’s particularly helpful for me, since I’m so far away from a library or bookstore.
What a beautiful garden you have. We visited our daughter in Kenya towards the end of her Peace corps tour in 1989 and it was wonderful to see some beautiful gardens – so different from our own.
Thank you. I think a lot of Kenya is like Rwanda, in that we have tropical plants, but it’s also cool enough to grow familiar things from home.
I like the geometric thing in the area with the Evolvulus. Not sure I’m bothered by the stone on the left. It looks like a “new thing” you’re starting, a geometric thing, and I wonder if it couldn’t extend into other parts of the garden. Not this specific area, not a physical linkage, but the concept.
James (and everyone else) — I’m sorry I’ve been so slow to reply this week. We had a really busy weekend, plus I’ve still got the tail-end of a cold.
The curves in that planting bed at the entrance, in the middle of all the paving, are meant to echo the irregular curves (waves) of all the planting beds at the front and on one side of the property. You can see them better here:
https://enclosuretakerefuge.com/2012/09/08/our-garden-summer-changes/
But that sort of square-shaped (really six sides) place was challenging. The curves of the beds with the Evolvulus are meant to continue the curves in the driveway semi-circle (via imaginary lines crossing the pavement).
The corner on the left that is stepping stones with grass growing between them, was meant to expand our standing space to welcome guests — otherwise, there’s only enough room for two people at time. But our particular turf grass (with other weeds mixed in) doesn’t stay “inside the lines,” either vertically or horizontally. So I’m thinking of putting in something like mondo grass (which is available here, and I’m guessing can be stepped on from time to time) between the stones, and then maybe planting a couple of mounding plants for more interest.
(But the Evolvulus and the center strip of grass stay.)
But I’m really not looking forward to removing the existing grass around the stones. I’m going away in April. If I covered it with cardboard for 3 weeks, do you think that would kill it?
Gorgeous, gorgeous gardens……
Thanks!
Love the views to the distance.
We do have a great view. We can see Kigali central business district and Mount Kigali.
It’s hard to find true blues. I like how lively the border looks.
It’s true. Most of our ‘blue’ flowers are really a bit purple or violet. I also have Eranthemum nervosum, which has gentian blue blooms — that don’t close up in the afternoons:
(https://enclosuretakerefuge.com/2012/02/27/by-any-other-name-would-be-wrong/)
I’m pretty happy with border along the upper lawn. It’s red and pink at the beginning; in the center, it’s mostly yellow with some blue.
[…] (Pictures of the upper lawn are here). […]
[…] at the top, there are yellow daylilies, the bright blue-flowering (in the morning) groundcover evolvulus, and orange Kniphofia uvaria (red hot pokers). At the right is an orange tropical […]