Houstonia purpurea
Common Name(s): Large Bluet, Large Houstonia, Mountain Bluets, Purple Bluets, Summer Bluet, Venus’ Pride, Woodland Bluets
Mountain bluet is a common native herbaceous perennial native to the eastern United States and is found in the mountains and Piedmont of North Carolina. In its natural habitat, it can be found in many locations, such as on well-drained slopes, along streams and lakes, hardwood floodplains, moist woods, rocky upland forests, rocky bluffs, pastures, and limestone glades.
It prefers well-drained, moist to dry, fertile soil in full sun to partial shade or dappled sunlight. Propagation is by seed or division. It forms low mounds and spreads slowly, growing 4 to 12 inches tall and spreading up to 1 foot.
It has broad terminal clusters of three or more blooms on branching, hairy stems. The flowers have four lavender-blue to almost white petals that fuse into a deep tube. Usually the central flower opens first. Although this is a short-lived plant, its self-seeding properties allow the plant to appear year after year.
It is sometimes confused with Houstonia longifolia, the difference being that the leaves along the stem are wider and rounded at the base and have sepals that are longer when in bloom.
It can be grown as a ground cover that can be mowed. To allow it to self-seed, avoid mowing until it has set its seed. It can also be used in a rock garden, pollinator garden and along walkways.
I’m keeping an eye out for wildflowers since we’ve been talking about them. I noticed this little beauty at the edge of the woods between here and Granny’s.
I’ve walked past it at least a dozen times or more this spring but failed to notice until Ira was walking with me yesterday. I had to walk slow so his little legs could make it up the big hill as he calls it.
I’ve seen the wildflower often over the years here in Wilson Holler, but don’t recall ever seeing it right there.
There’s a piece of folklore shared in Streams to the River, River to the Sea written by Scott O’Dell that I’ve never forgotten and often think of when I see wildflowers.
The book tells a fictional story about Sacagawea who was Lewis and Clark’s interpreter. At some point during the story Sacagawea shares a Shoshone Legend with the men. I don’t remember the exact words, but the gist of it has stayed with me all these years: wildflowers are the footprints of children long gone on who’ve come back to brighten our days.
Last night’s video: How Matt Makes Cabbage Soup – So Easy and So Good!
Tipper
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Sweet Miss Tipper and all the Acorns, Living in Mississippi I see beautiful wild flowers, beautiful. I wish I could grow flowers and enjoy every one of them. God’s garden is everywhere and we can all see and enjoy them, when in season. Praise Him. What blessings we all receive from Him every day.
To Brian B.– “Very good news!’, that you are on the other side of the teeth-pulling! You made it (and with the desire to “check-in”, just a day later), and ‘gave me hope that I, too, can survive (now I need to just schedule)!
Tipper– I love those delicate (but seemingly sturdy!) little forest floor “stars”! I think I would have to make a rock garden, just to have them where I can admire them throughout the day! I also love the legend told by Sacagawea, and will DEFINITELY remember that!
[Sacagawea has many stories left-behind, after her activity in our area. There are some life-size bronzes of her around — particularly around Keuka Lake (one of the “Finger lakes”, that are named-after original bands of Native peoples in (now) New York State.
Almost daily, I learn (from you and your family) the differences between your region and ours (and being Appalachian is definitely not a part of MY identity), but I sometimes am reminded of one geographic detail that ties ‘us’ together . . .that, if I get in my car and drive *just a few minutes(!) northeast, I can begin the Appalachian Trail, and have fun feeling just a little bit more connected to you, my friends, “much further down”!
Tipper…I suspect the flower had been there all along perhaps hidden under some other woodland beauty that gave up the ghost during our brutal cold winter. I find we all walk over or blindly pass many of Gods treasures from tiny scented wild things that come as quick as they go or even the simple chipped stone full of sparkles as the morning sun dries the dew from its ledges. All this to say you have traversed that path thousands of times made countless footsteps that took you on missions that consumed your thoughts, you head raised toward the task at hand. Before the last couple years you hurried toward that familiar home place perhaps to borrow sugar for cookies you and your sweet girls would bake or fetch an extra couple of pint jars you lacked to finish out your jelly makins. Until lately the journey was to tend to your precious Momma with who would go all to soon to her Jesus and Pap. You walk with Ira was a new adventure as every walk with a small child is. We see the world in a different light just as your Momma did with you as your white Mary Jane’s skipped across that much loved hollar. Gods free gift to us to remind us life goes on and we in Christ can rest in the Beauty He provides… if we see the world through a child’s eyes.
Scott O’dell: Island of the Blue Dolphins.
That is the book that has made me a life long reader. I will have to read the one you mentioned!
Tipper, I did good with my teeth being pulled.
but My mom Janet has had a set back. she has Parkinsons and A-Fib. The home therapist came today and said for her to back off doing her standing exercises but she could still do her sitting ones.
she goes next week to her heart Dr. He is supposed to shock her heart as a temporary fix for her shortness of breath.
long term in 2-3 months Dr. is supposed to give her a pacemaker.
Good news for you Brian! And I’ll keep praying for her!!
Beautiful little flower and I love the story!
“What I like about the woods, what is consoling, is that usually nobody is working there, unless you would say that God is. The only trouble with my woods walking is that it is downhill going and uphill coming home.” – excerpt from the book, Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Thank you for sharing this lovely this little flower with us! I love the color.
I’m somewhat a quoteaholic (I made that up … don’t know if there is such a word), but I loved that sweet little quote about children and wildflowers. I’m working on a photo album now of pictures of my nieces and great nieces taken in my mother’s yard when they were small (they’re all grown up now, one with a child of her own). My mother loved flowers, and the girls are surrounded by flowers in almost all of the pics. I’m so enjoying putting it together, and that little quote would be perfect for it.
That picture is gorgeous! Love all wildflowers but I don’t think I have ever seen this one. Thank you for sharing it.
I love the story of wildflowers being footprints of little children long gone and come back to brighten our days. There seem to be more wildflowers around our home this year than usual. I took a little walk in the woods yesterday with my three youngest grandbabies. We picked a purple iris and some fleabane to put in a vase with a rose I was given at church last Sunday. We found lots of purple iris blooms and a couple yellow iris blooms ready to pop out. Something has been nibbling on their tops. We have some beautiful yellow wildflowers I have never seen and a couple others I don’t know the names of. There are lots of buttercups, dandelions, and white clover. I will have to send Hubby out with his phone to take a picture and look them up for me. Although we just take little walks in our woods, the kids love exploring. We found a circle of feathers where something had feasted on some type of bird the night before. It looked like maybe chicken feathers. We have a neighbor a little ways away that has chickens. They are the ones with the rooster that I love to hear, but I don’t know if they are missing a chicken. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. It’s a little rainy here…good day for a cup of tea and honey.
So beautiful! The sweet flowers & the sweet story ! Love & Prayers !
Good Morning Tipper – what a pretty little flower and loved the thought that Sacajawea put to wildflowers. This post remined me of another very pretty wildflower (HOGWEED) that we have here that happened to be in bloom during a camping time John & I was on, growing right around the allotted camp site area. Often I would pick a couple of sprigs of a wildflower and ‘brighten’ up our table as I found later that the kind we have growing here is toxic to touch! I am so thankful I refrained from picking this one! Sorry I can’t add a photo but will share about it. One can google if interested in seeing what it looks like. Seeing where it comes from it makes you wonder how it got here! ****”Hogweed refers to a group of plants in the carrot family, including common hogweed and the invasive giant hogweed, with the latter posing serious health risks due to its toxic sap.
Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) is a native European plant that grows up to 2 meters tall. It has broad, hairy, serrated leaves, hollow ridged stems, and umbrella-like clusters of creamy-white flowers that bloom from May to August. Its sap is generally non-toxic, and it provides nectar for pollinators
This is the one we have here and each year there is a warning publicized for outdoor enthusiasts. ****Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is a non-native, invasive species from southwest Asia. It can reach heights of 1.5–5 meters, with leaves up to 1.5 meters wide and 3 meters long. The stems are hollow, green with purple blotches, and covered in stiff white hairs. Its large umbrella-shaped flower heads can be up to 60 cm across, producing numerous seeds
Giant hogweed thrives in derelict gardens, waste ground, roadsides, and along rivers, where seeds are dispersed by water.
**Health Risks
Giant hogweed sap contains chemicals called furanocoumarins, which can cause severe skin burns and blisters when exposed to sunlight. Contact with eyes can lead to temporary or permanent blindness. **Early spring growth can be mistaken for cow parsley or common hogweed, so caution is advised when handling or removing it.
Tipper, I just loved the flowers and loved the picture and loved reading all about them and you and little man climbing the big hill seeing “footprints of children from long ago who trod those paths.” It’s just wonderful food for the soul needing beautiful things to see in a world where the lights seem to be going out…It’s the pretty and simple things seem that seem to be missing mostly and taken for granted nowadays doesn’t it? THANKYOU for the beautiful things, Tipper!!!! You have a beautiful soul! I’m loving this botanical theme. Have a great day all and stay warm til it supposedly warms next week…
I am remembering some beautiful highway beautification projects in which mixed wildflowers were sown in median strips and along road shoulders. I think Ladybird Johnson was behind that program. I don’t travel much now, so I don’t know if any of that still goes on. I imagine regular mowing knocked a lot of those flowers back, and drought conditions might have finished them off.
good morning friends, God bless you I hope you have a great day, please say a word for me is I’m having some health complications, thank you and God bless you very much
Praying for you!!
thank you very much Tipper
♡What a beautiful thought about children’s footprints♡ Since I’m surrounded by hundreds of acres of farmland, my wildflower sights are limited to the sides of the road, but I grew up with a beautiful timber across the road. Mr. Hedgecock was the sweetest man and gave us full access to enjoy that time. 10 minutes (by bicycle lol) north of us was the “back 80”. It was part of our farm and 40 acres of it were a hardwood timber. When I was old enough to take off by myself (12) I’d pack a book, bag for gathering and a thermos of water and spend hours there. Only a watch to tell me when to head home. Both timbers had gargling, spring fed creeks. Ahhhh , the good old old days!
Kim, this has nothing to do with flowers, I grew up and still live in one of the most rural areas in Greenville County, SC. I remember when your neighbors didn’t care for you to roam around on their property. As teenagers, my friend and I were allowed to hunt and roam on many acres of neighborhood land, but unlike with many of today’s young people, we didn’t tear up/destroy anything, all we left behind were footprints. We KNEW better than to intentionally tear up something, when our parents found out, it would have been our butts getting torn up. Now with so many outsiders moving in this is no longer true, many of them put posted/no trespassing signs up before the ink has time to dry on their deed.
I think it is interesting that you had not noticed that flowering plant in that particular spot before until recently when you had to slow down with sweet little Ira walking up “the big hill” : ) and so is that legend story. It is a lovely little flower and I like it’s name. A pretty little gift there at the edge of the woods between you and your mother’s home for you all to see and enjoy as you pass by. That makes James 1:17 comes to my mind.
Cannot decide if I have ever seen this Mountain Bluet or not. Hard to believe I haven’t but I do not recall ever identifying it if so. I always watch in spring for the little “Quaker ladies”, the common bluet to appear. They are one of the first signs of “real” spring. Plus I like their dainty style and delicate colors. I’m with you about Nature’s surprises. No matter how well I think I know a place, Nature can still surprise me. That infinite variety though is part of what keeps it interesting even on an area as small as our 1/2 acre yard. I keep finding cedar, holly, hickory, dogwood and black cherry popping up (not to mention privet, mulberry and Shortleaf pine). As Jeff Pruitt told Thelma Lou, “I think you’re trying to change me!”
Very pretty!
I found jack in the pulpit in my woods the other day. I have lived there for 20 years and walked the property even longer and have never seen it. It was a very nice surprise.
I live in the suburbs of NE Ohio and have allot of this around my yard.
Good morning Tipper and Acorns. I ‘m loving your wildflower spotting posts. I ‘m looking back thru my photos to see my own finds. It is such fun. TY so much, Tipper, for all your hard work in posting here and on youtube. It makes my day. I love watching Matt cook. I’m going to use the link and watch it again. I’ll go buy another cabbage this weekend and make the soup and cornbread. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Holler in my prayers. TY all for keeping Ed and me in your prayers too. I hope The LORD lets me live long enough to see him settled and able to provide for himself. PRAISE report…. Ed got a text message on his phone from Vandetrbilt Medical Center just to say they are considering him as a patient. YAY, another dance down the streets in my mind like King David. I gotta get me a tambourine. I love y’all.
Great news!
Love this!
We are planning on planting some wildflower beds at our new home. I will think of this now when they come up.
I love all the different wildflowers you are sharing! So pretty and what a special thought about the footprints of children.
Have a wonderful day. We are receiving a load of new perennials today. It’s so exciting to see things I’ve never even heard of. Many blessings to all y’all and know we continue to pray for each of y’all!