So, I’ve kind of been obsessed with these flowers lately. I don’t think I ever really noticed them before this year, but I would see them off to the side of the highway on my morning commute to work and think how pretty they were and maybe one afternoon when I’m done with work, I should try to go photograph some.
So, after I got home, I set out on my scooter to find a patch and found that they seemed to have all vanished. Not a blue flower to be seen. But the next morning, there they were again, swaying in the breeze and soaking up the morning sun. Eventually I figured out the the game of hide and seek–it wasn’t that the flowers were actually gone. Common chicory flowers are only open from about sunrise to noon.
Chicory Flowers on a Hot Summer Day
Common chicory, Cichorium intybus,[4] is a somewhat woody, perennialherbaceous plant of the dandelion family, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink.
So once I figured out I had to be the early bird in order to get my worm, I got up on a Saturday morning and rode off to the park where I knew I had seen some growing before. It was already sweltering and I was wearing an armored riding jacket that wasn’t really suitable for hot summer weather (fleece lined), so I got there a half-melted, (and somewhat literally) hot mess. But once more, there were no flowers! Apparently they had been mowed over the day before some time after I saw them Friday morning. I found a random plant by itself that happened to be growing next to a small tree/shrub but it wasn’t the same as having a bunch of them together. And I took some pictures of other random chicory plants I found when I was out and about later on.
Chicory by the Railroad Tracks
Yesterday morning I set out with the same goal in mind of finding a large patch of chicory flowers and taking some photos. I had noticed another bunch of them growing together elsewhere on my morning commute and kept seeing them day after day for a couple of weeks on a lot with terribly overgrown grass and weeds. I got there and you can guess what happened. All gone! The overgrowth had finally been all mowed down.
This time, since I was not dying from summer heat, I rode around and found another bunch not too far away. Success! Even though these chicory flowers are rather weed like in their nature, popping in yards and other places they don’t necessarily belong, I find them pretty and rather interesting.
Impossi-flowers. aka Common Chicory
Fun Fact:
A blue flower (German: Blaue Blume) is a central symbol of inspiration. It stands for desire, love, and the metaphysical striving for the infinite and unreachable. It symbolizes hope and the beauty of things.
Chicory on a Cool Summer Morning