Blue in the shade

These beautiful Himalayan Blue Poppies seem to grow in the shade, and I never find them easy to photograph. This photo isn't as sharp as I would like it to have been.

"Blue Himalayan Poppies are one of the most impressive plants for the shade garden. Plants form a rosette of hairy leaves, bearing large satiny flowers in an amazing shade of true blue. These are not always easy to please, demanding an evenly moist, rich soil and cool woodland conditions. Plants are not long lived, typically flowering in the second or third year, setting seed, then dying out. Gardeners in hot summer climates seldom succeed with these plants, yet they are surprisingly tolerant of cold winter conditions."

www.perennials.com/plants/meconopsis-betonicifolia.html

I'm posting my photos later than usual this morning, after sleeping in. Yesterday evening, I didn't get home till 10:00 p.m., and so ended up getting to bed in the early hours of this morning. I was out all evening on Don Stiles' annual Bluebird Route trip. Don has been a Bluebird Monitor for about 30 years, so has great experience with Bluebirds - also with Tree Swallows and an occasional Wren that also use the wooden nest boxes! This time, we didn't see any baby Bluebirds, as all the young ones had already fledged and none of the pairs had a second clutch. We did see nest boxes with tiny Tree Swallow eggs in the nest, and also several nest boxes that had baby Tree Swallows in, around 12 days old. One box had 12 babies in - obviously belonging to two adult females! Can't imagine how they will all cope when they get bigger. Another great evening, Don - thanks so much for taking a few of us out with you! Nice to see a very distant Baltimore Oriole - my first for this year - and various other birds, too.

According to the weather forecast, it looks like we are in for more very hot weather - love the sunshine, but can't cope with the high temperatures.