Its time I tried the Scottish Bluebell in the garden, Bluebell (Campanula rotundifolia) (Harebell)
Campanula Rotundifolia! (Harebell)! Naw its the Scottish Bluebell. Well I suppose officially its a Campanula and its also known as the Harebell by our neighbours across the border. But, hey, this is Scotland and we claimed it hundreds of years ago, and guess what, we called it the Bluebell, not any old Bluebell, but our Bluebell. We Scots have a history of claiming stuff as belonging to us
The Scottish Bluebell is a very pretty sight growing wild throughout Scotland preferring dry conditions and sandy soil near the coast. It is indeed native to this land.
We have established that the above plant, beautiful as it is, is not a Bluebell. I suppose the main give away is, unlike the true Bluebell our one is not Spring flowering. The Scottish namesake flowers between the months of July and September. Reaches a height of about 20cm and the nodding flowers are held singly on thin wiry stems.
The pictures I show of them were taken on a visit to the beautiful Balmedie Beach which is a few miles north of Aberdeen.
The Bluebells were growing prolifically in a wild flower meadow beside the path leading to the beach.
It would only be fair to make mention of the true Bluebell which is native to the UK, well it is in fact to be found growing wild south of the border. (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) Flowering April/May, the Bluebell woods are quite stunning. Unfortunately the English Bluebell is under threat from the more robust Spanish variety which lacks the charm of the English Bluebell.
The picture below is another of our Scottish one, simply because I don’t have a picture of the English bluebell.
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