Sky Blue

In Scotland, they call these bluebells.  My mom's family is Scots-Irish, so I like to think that I grew up calling these flowers bluebells because of the oral tradition.  That's actually kind of likely.

Campanula rotundifolia is a circumboreal species.  In the US, they are more commonly called Harebells.  I grew up seeing them scattered through the Eastern Washington landscape in open woodlands.  As an adult, I encountered them in cultivation in a botanical garden where I used to work.  In cultivation, they can grow into floriforous beauties that you'd never see in the wild.

The color of typical plants is a darker blue than this plant.  I found and collected this pale blue specimen from my dad's property, from the side of a hill where lightning repeatedly destroyed trees when I was growing up.

I'm not sure what to call this clone.  Should I go with "Sky Diamonds" or "Blue Lightning"?

At any rate, I'm quite captivated by its unusual hue.  It took me a few times to get it started in cultivation (I took small starts each time), but this year I have a trough full of it.  The season is early, but it looks like it is preparing for a spectacular show.