Houstonia Species, Azure Bluet, Mountain Bluets, Quaker Ladies

A lovely native plant here. I've found populations varying tremendously in size and color. The blues vary from mid-blue to nearly white, ...Read Moreand in the same population I've found individuals that are pure white (with the yellow throat). In New England, I mostly see pale skim-milk colored flowers, and near Washington DC I mostly see them in a more saturated sky blue.

They seem to occur naturally where there's little competition, generally in small patches on acid, infertile soils in thin grass, usually accompanied by moss. I see them growing in full sun to dappled shade, often in very dry places under trees, and in the grassy verges of highways. I can't imagine that they'd survive in a dense thriving lawn, and I can't imagine them growing as a weed-suppressing ground cover. The individual plants themselves are smaller than a fingernail, and the flowers are huge relative to the size of the plant.

Whenever I've transplanted them into a flower bed, I've lost them. But they've grown well and sown themselves in the pure sand between walkway pavers, where they look splendid.

Here in New England, they bloom for a couple of weeks in May, well after most daffodils are finished. Near Washington DC, they bloom in the latter half of April.

"Bluets" or "azure bluet" means Houstonia coerulea.
"Mountain bluets" means Centaurea montana.

I love my Bluets! They appeared in the mossy areas of my lawn the first spring in my house, two years ago. They like moist shady areas,...Read More but are starting to spread out, moving to some of the sunnier and grassier areas. What started as a dotting of color in my yard the first spring is turning into a carpet of color. They begin to bloom with the first daffodils. Because of my shade, I rarely cut my grass, and I think this has helped them naturalize.

These grow wild in our fruit orchards, fields, pastures here in Maine.

These are native to our area (Zone 5), and one of the few flowers that came with the house.

They seem to thrive in the sha...Read Moredy, damp and acidic lawn which is otherwise covered only with moss, but we have spotted them in much drier and nearly full sun locations.

We look forward to these every spring, and bloom at the same time as daffodils and other spring flowers. They can last for weeks. It is a fine sight to see your lawn awash in sky-blue flowers!
By the time the lawn starts growing, these have all but disappeared.

We don't know much yet about their propagation. We started this year by simply dividing and transplanting a clump. The flowers are so small that I have not found a seed yet. We'd love to grow more.