I live in SW Va and this blue flower is everywhere along roadways. While researching some local bee forage I came across a photo of chicory and thought it resembled the blue flower I see everywhere. I'm curious if this is chicory that bees supposedly work. I never see bees on these blue flowers, but I could be looking at the wrong time of day. Thanks in advance!
Well, it doesn't look like the chicory by me, I believe it is much taller, and the base leaves remind me of dandelion leaves...yours seem short, but it could be a relative.
I did find one of these that was probably 4 feet tall. Researching some chicory earlier stated that they can grow up to 4 ft. But, yes generally the ones I see are much smaller.. Maybe 2 feet or so.
Yes, that is chicory. An odd perspective looking straight down on it... it can get three or four feet tall. If it has been mowed it will bloom much shorter than that. It is a perennial and once it has a tap root down a ways will bloom even in a drought, although the flowers will often close on a hot afternoon. It will also bloom after a light frost and won't stop until a hard freeze. It usually starts blooming in late June and blooms until a hard freeze. It's not as appealing to the bees as sweet clover but it will continue to bloom when the sweet clover is done and when everything else dries up.
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