False Day Flower is a beautiful, but generally uncultivated, member of the Commelinaceae family which includes spiderwort, wandering Jew, and the true, perennial day flower (widow's tears). Seeds for False Day Flower arrived in my garden in a bag of leaves that I collected for mulch. I'm glad they did because their 5-inch tufts of bright green foliage which appear in late fall, brighten the winter garden. With spring rains the flower spathes shoot up a foot or more and the funny-faced flowers float like pale blue butterflies. Normally, the petals are a solid lavender blue, but occasionally a bitone flower will appear. I've selected the bitones seeds over the years and now about 80 per cent of the flowers in my yard are bitoned.

False Day flowers form grass-like drifts that disappear in the first heat of summer. Although they self-sow with the vigor of weeds, they are not rank. They are very shallow-rooted and easy to remove from any place that they are not wanted. They require absolutely no attention and make wonderful filler plants, especially on the edges of shady areas. The seeds sprout in moist soil covered with mulch.