It's Meadowsweet, Spiraea alba. Aren't those flowers pretty close up? WW Here is a link that might be useful: Meadowsweet

Despite it not being a perfect match for Elaeagnus umbellata, I think you have enough characteristics to place it in the Elaeagnus genus. If you look on the USDA Plants database, there is a subform, and I'm sure there are others due to hybridization. And of course invasive plants like these can seed around a bit (I pick out seedlings from my neighbor's elaeagnus all the time) and become "naturalized" ((shutter)). Here is a link that might be useful: Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb. var. parvifolia

giboosi_alttara, My first thought, with the diagonal cuts, was rabbits ... but the height threw me. These lily plants are exceptionally large and the flower stems exceptionally tall -- literally to my shoulder in some cases, and certainly at least 3.5-4 feet in height. Is it possible that rabbits -- which we've never seen, actually, despite having a meadow adjoining the property (though we also have plenty of hawks and coyotes so that might explain the noticeable absence of rabbits?) -- could pull down a stem and snip it off? (Otherwise, they'd need to do more than stand on their hind legs .. they'd need a stepladder!) And I wonder the same thing about rabbits -- why bite these off and then just leave them on the ground? Not a blossom or bud is missing/munched...? I had concluded deer in part because of the height at which these are being "nipped" off ... but deer would eat the flowers, wouldn't they? One morning there were no less than five such 4-6" stems on the ground around one lily clump, looking for all the world as if some crazed gardener and gone through and "deadheaded" them, then strewn them around the base of the plant! Each with buds, faded blooms, and in several cases, partially opened NEW blooms. Why would anything -- including rabbits -- be biting these off if they weren't planning to eat them? (And if they didn't like the taste, wouldn't you think they'd figure that out after the first few?...this has happened for days on end. I have an continuous supply of truncated lily stems in a vase by the sink! (Needless to say, I'd RATHER have the stems still on the plants! ;) I would try more of my homemade habanero pepper spray (I put peppers and some water into a blender, then strain through cheesecloth or coffee filter and fill a hand spray bottle -- worked like a charm early in the season on foliage to keep deer away) but I'm worried about discouraging beneficial butterflies and bees now that things are in bloom...?

The description of this blue flower was so intriguing that I kept checking back to see if anyone ID'd it so was glad to see David's answer. . A photo of Blue Waterleaf/Hydrolea ovata is on the Wildflower Center website. I can see a family resemblance to the native waterleaf I grew in Illinois (Hydrophyllum virginianum), but no spines grew out of that flower! Annie at the Transplantable Rose Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrolea ovata