Brodiaea laxa 'Queen Fabiola'

After eating a delicious supper cooked by Helena, consisting mostly of baked vegetables, I sat at the table looking out at the early evening light and the flowers by the back door. Some long tailed tits flocked to the sunflower seed feeder hanging off the trellis only about four feet from me, so I quickly went to get my camera with the thought of a blip of some of my very favourite little birds.

I had just time to get two snaps before the rushed off and I only realised that the feeder was actually empty when I saw several of the tits scrabbling around on the ground beneath looking for dropped seeds. So I went out to the cabin to refill the feeder taking my camera with me. As I stood below the back door to rehang the feeder I looked down at these beautiful blue flowers that have recently opened. I planted them as bulbs a few months ago with some others that I bought in a cheap deal from Lidl, and have been amazed at how stunning they have been. I blipped the other taller white flowers, called Acidanthera murielae, a few weeks ago when they first flowered and they are are much taller. The last of them are just about to bloom, all in the same pot, and it is their stems that from the green background stems in this picture.

These Brodiaea laxa 'Queen Fabiola' will be bought again and I will definitely try very hard to save them, and then grow these bulbs again next year. They have been such elegant additions and were so cheap! I am also rather pleased with the outcome of the pictures, which only proves that low light and a good macro lens can produce interesting results! I have added a couple of other versions to my usual Flickr gallery.

I have checked them out on Wiki (which I have copied below) and am intrigued to find that their common name is Ithuriel's spear!



Triteleia laxa (previously Brodiaea laxa) is a triplet lily known by several common names, including Ithuriel's spear and grassnut. It is native to California where it is a common wildflower, and it is occasionally found in southwestern Oregon. It bears a tall, naked stem topped with a spray of smaller stalks, each ending in a purple or blue flower. The flower is tubular, opening into a sharply six-pointed star. The plant grows from a corm which is edible and similar in taste and use as the potato. The most used common name for the species, Ithuriel's spear, is a reference to the angel Ithuriel from Milton's Paradise Lost.