Hyacinthoides hispanica I believe. Common name Spanish bluebell. Not to be confused with Hyacintha non scripta. Common name common Bluebell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Bluebell
Technically they are Hyacinthoides, wood hyacinth. or blue bell. There are several varieties and come in white, pink and blue and naturalize beautifully. A smaller type but same basic family are the little grape hyacinth that also naturalize well. I have seen fields of these blooming in the spring - beautiful! barb
Agree this is Hyacinthoides × massartiana (hybrid H. non-scripta × H. hispanica). Pure H. hispanica has even more open flowers; see here for pic and details: http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/BIS/flora.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=4764
Yes Ron & Michael, there are several, many cousins. One of the ladies at the Senior centre where we hold our Master Gardener Plant Clinic, asked about what she thought was a Snow Drop which she was familiar with coming from Scotland - but to tall. I brought out the Sunset Garden book and showed her the pic and disc. of the GALANTHUS. Not-quite-right, but right next to it was the pic. & description for GALTONIA, candicans, Summer Hyacinth. Much taller and spot on for what she'd seen. She was confused because it was native to South Africa, why was it here? I asked her if she was familiar with Scotch Broom, and where did it come from - Scotland. Some home sick Scotsman brought it with him and now it's all over the place. People have been moving their favourite plants with them for many years. I like being able to solve the little questions. I'll leave the big ones to you guys. barb ;))
Thank you Ron and Michael for the correction. I had seen these in a garden, and realised they were slightly different from the Spanish bluebell, but I was not aware of the name Hyacinthoides × massartiana. This link shows the 3 mentioned. I can see the differences clearly now. http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...b:IE-ContextMenu&rlz=1I7SUNA_en-GB&tbs=isch:1
This is so interesting. Thanks for the link to photos of all three spiecies. For many years I had only the pretty Spanish bluebells then I found some English bluebells offered for sale for the first time and, naturally, had to try them as well. I planted both kinds in my garden (did not know about the third until reading this thread), the Spanish in the front and the English in the back so I could keep them separate and compare them. I noticed the English bluebell bulbs looked like little potatoes and the Spanish have the silvery skin like an onion. A good way to distinguish between them, I thought. The English ones came up, possibly didn't care for the place, and subsequently disappeared. Certainly did not go forth and reseed madly about which I defiinitely was hoping for. That was several years ago and I haven't seen them offered since. Last fall I bought a pkg of Spanish Bluebells and upon opening the bag found the bulbs looked like little potatoes. I am now waiting for them to bloom. Thanks to the link, I see English bluebells have a much more closed bell with tightly curled back rims. Which will it be? The suspense mounts.
