Californian Blue Bell Blue Foam Seeds - Phacelia viscida compacta

Phacelia viscida compacta Blue Foam also called Californian Blue Bell, is a small, very bright annual plant that is noteworthy for its magnificent, scented, deep gentian blue flowers, lit up by white centres but also because it attracts very useful insects to the garden and enriches the soil in which it grows. It quickly forms a small clump of slightly sticky, drought-resistant foliage. This plant is perfect for natural gardens and will creep into perennial beds, flowering meadows and will anchor the soil on slopes. It is easy to grow in any well-drained soil, in the sun.

Californian Blue Bell or sticky phacelia or tacky phacelia, is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the Boraginaceae family. California is the birthplace of this plant, that is both charming and useful for agriculture and beekeeping.

From spring onwards, it develops a clump of stems covered with glandular hairs that make the plant a little sticky. It has a very dense root system. Its growth is rapid. It reaches its adult size in 3 to 4 months, not exceeding 25 cm in height and 15 cm in width. Its foliage is composed of alternating leaves which are viscous to the touch. Flowering takes place from June to September, depending on the date of sowing. It is melliferous and nectar-rich. This plant is adorned with small, highly fragrant flowers measuring 1 cm in diameter that are grouped in scorpioid inflorescences, meaning that they appear as crooks that gradually unfurl as the flowers open. Their colour is an eye-catching gentian blue, splashed with a white centre with purple markings and white stamens. 

Phacelia are interesting plants in more ways than one. Not only are they beautiful, they grow and flower everywhere, especially in areas where many others refuse to grow. It is a remarkable green manure in dry soils. In recent gardens or on barren slopes, they can quickly form beautiful, superbly coloured beds with other fast-growing plants such as sainfoin, indian pea, flax or perennial peas. Its beautiful foliage quickly smothers weeds and its extensive root system improves soil structure. Its flowers attract many insects which are very useful in fighting against crop pests and diseases. Phacelia is particularly recommended in orchards because it increases the populations of micro-hymenoptera that parasite butterfly eggs, including those of coddling moths. The plant also attracts a small wasp that parasitizes the apple woolly aphid.