Chicory

Chicory

Cichorium intybus

Chicory is an alien plant that grows along roadsides and disturbed areas.  Therefore you should hate it.  But who does!!  It's a pretty plant that is quite unique and has flowers with an unusual shade of blue that gives you good thoughts.

When they start sprouting, there are no flowers and few leaves and look like a bunch of dead twigs sticking up.  Then, little by little, they start getting their foliage.  Then the flowers start coming out and before long you start seeing little spots of blue as you drive down the road.

The best time of day to do most flower photography is first thing in the morning before there is any wind to shake your subject.  The problem with chicory is that the flowers close up at night and don't open until about noon.  They're night-owls!  If not for that, you'd probably see more pictures of chicory.



Morning flowers not quite open

Early summer plant looks like a twig sticking out of the ground

A bunch of twigs growing along the roadside



Typical leaf clasping the stem

Blooming plant