#LIGHT BLUE EYES FREE#

When the seedlings are big enough to move you can transplant them outdoors, as described below.

Maintain moisture in the soil after the seeds sprout. You can also plant directly into the containers or hanging planters where you wish to keep your baby blue eyes for the duration. Small recycled plastic containers are great for this, or you may like to use biodegradable pots to ease the transition when transplanting. Using seed-starting mix and containers with holes for drainage, plant the seeds in the soil and keep them in a warm location. The soil needs to stay warm and moist, and germination can take a total of seven to 30 days.įor an earlier start, particularly if you live in a colder climate, you can start seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost. Any size pot with a capacity ranging from one to five gallons will make a perfect container for baby blue eyes cultivation. You can also plant seeds directly into a container with holes for drainage, filled with organically-rich potting mix. If your soil needs amending, just top dress with an inch or two of organic compost – there’s no need to dig it in. Signs of nutrient-rich soil are a dark color, and the presence of thriving earthworms and fungi. Packed with minerals and microorganisms, rich and healthy soil feeds your plants with its carbon-rich nutrients.

#LIGHT BLUE EYES FREE#

They should be pressed lightly – by about one-sixteenth of an inch – into the surface of slightly moist, organically rich soil that’s free of any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. From Seedīroadcasting or direct sowing individually will work with these small wildflower seeds. Seeds will germinate in spring or fall in warm temperatures between 59 and 70☏. It’s best to sow in early spring, though this species can handle a fall planting if left undisturbed through the winter. Most gardeners grow baby blue eyes from seed. This species will thrive in Zones 7 to 10, growing quickly, blooming in spring, and self-seeding for the next season. Happiest in cool summer climates with nighttime temperatures consistently below 65☏, baby blue eyes loves biospheres like the temperate Willamette River Valley in Oregon and chaparral in Baja California, which spans parts of the State of California and northern Mexico. It grows wild at elevations up to 6,500 feet above sea level, and it has naturalized in parts of Arkansas and Nevada as well. Menziesii is attributed to Scottish naturalist and physician Archibald Menzies, who brought back many new varieties of plants on his way home from a fur-trading sea voyage around Cape Horn in 1786.Ĭultivated for over a century in Europe, baby blue eyes is a native species of the Pacific Northwest, ranging from coastal regions of Oregon and California south into Baja California. Its latin genus name Nemophila means “woodland-loving.” Specifically, this comes from the Latin word “nemos,” which refers to a glade, also known as a wooded pasture or a grove, and the Greek word “philos,” which translates to loving. It’s easy to find seeds online and they’re often found in commercial wildflower seed mixes. No doubt its alluring appearance has made baby blue eyes a popular wildflower. Baby blue eyes is an excellent forage source for native bees, which are suffering a population crisis. Many winged insects will fly in to eat the flower’s nectar and help promote biodiversity. Like many indigenous plants, it makes an excellent addition to a pollinator garden. An important ally in wildlife gardens, it attracts bees, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial insects. An ornamental native wildflower, it can self-seed and produce new plants the next year.Ī lovely companion plant, baby blue eyes grows well with succulents, cacti, and other wildflowers like the California poppy. The flowers grow in a cluster from the branch tips, on green or purple stems thick with white hairs.īaby blue eyes is easy to grow from seed and requires only moderate maintenance. Reaching a mature height of six inches with a spread of one foot, it has five-petaled flowers that are white in the center with brilliant baby blue hues from the mid-petal out to the tips. Its common name, baby blue eyes, tells the story of its bright and attractive features.

Light blue eyes