Welcome to Summer! The 'love-in-a-mist' is just starting to open in this week's warm weather and there's some in this week's posies. It has been synonymous with English country gardens since the Elizabethan times.
I really like it because of its light blue whispiness. The name relates to the flower nestled in its misty nest of leaves, although one of the favourite characters down at New Covent Garden Market jokingly used to call it 's**g-in-a-fog'. It is formally known as Nigella and, surprisingly, it's part of the buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family.
The flower is short-lived but it goes on to produce attractive purple seed heads which also work well in flower arrangements too.