What colour are bluebells?

[jopsy]

jenny i like your ladybird!
those are def white bluebells!

[Jenny Green]

Thanks Jopsy! I breed them you know.

[jane E]

Can't throw light on white bluebells. With regard to Jenny's blues/mauves - could it be age? The eye lens sees colour differently as it gets older - more tepia like. Colour could be substantnially different to a young person.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Jane E, i bet your right, i've heard Jenny is not as young as she used to be.

[Jenny Green]

While I would love to blame the discrepancy on the fact that I'm a youthful 42, it's well known that Herby is in fact a young and attractive female who masquerades on these boards as an old g*t in a failed attempt to win some respect.
I'm not insane (despite much evidence to the contrary). Others also notice the difference between what horticulturalists describe as blue and what's generally understood to be blue.

After all, how common are truly blue flowers? And no offense, but why do purple flowers get called blue? If we took the flowers that are usually called "blue" to a kindergarten and asked the children, "What color are these?", those astute kids would shout, "PURPLE!"


http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/pere ... 23537.html

But finding TRUE blue flowers can be a little trickier. Many flowering annuals and perennials that we describe as "blue" actually produce flowers that most people would call purple or lavender.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgar ... y0104.html

I am taking a landscape design class at a local college. While discussing plants today she said there is no purple in plants, that it is generally accepted that they are all shades of blue. I have a hard time accepting this. On the other had if she said there is rarely a true blue that they are all shades of purple I would have been less shocked.

Whats up with this? Does anyone know if there is a purple in the Royal Horticulture color wheel

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/loa ... 84.html?38

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Jenny, i don't think i have ever masqueraded in my life,
As for being a woman, if only, it must be so nice being waited on hand and foot.
And i gave up trying to get respect years ago.

Jenny, Bom chicka whoa whoa.

[alan refail]

Here we are again, Jenny Bluish-green

Here's the RHS colour wheel

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/design/design22.asp

Now tell us bluebells are purple

By the way, I've just realised why my bluebells are turning white - they can't stand this eternal bickering about what colour they used to be

Back to Welsh - we don't have the colour problem. They can be clychau'r gog (cuckoo's bells), cennin y brain (crows' leeks) or croeso haf (welcome summer).

Alan

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Alan, i think i'm going to start calling them Cuckoo's bells,(clychau'r gog), what a lovely name.

[Jenny Green]

Well, Alan, You've proven that there is purple in the RHS colour wheel, but you haven't proven that bluebells are blue. Anyone with an ounce of sense can see that they're closer to purple than blue. A case of the emperor's new clothes I think!
Cuckoo's Bells is a beautiful name it's true, and apt as they flower at cuckoo time.
Aha! I've found the answer:

Did you know that men see colour differently to women? According to the Pope’s in their book Planting with Colour, men are better able than women to see in the dark or in low light, whereas women can better appreciate the soft blush of a rose. “Women store visual information on both sides of their brain, men on one side only; this gives men better depth perception, but at the price of colour recall, which is easier for women. Ten percent of men are functionally colour blind, and almost none has the selective capacity of a woman’s eye”.

[Granny]

To come into this a little belatedly, and to aggravate the issue, possibly, my husband and I regularly argue, sorry, disagree, on whether a colour is blue, geen or turquoise. Similarly with reds, oranges and yellows. And when the kids were still at home it could lead to a full scale family discussion!!! I do think people see things differently. After all, how would you describe a colour to a small child? We do have to simplify all sorts of shades into definitive colours. So the Popes could probably be right!
--------------
Granny

[sue-the-recycler]

In my previous garden I had a border about 20 feet long full of naturalised bluebells, In the middle, there were several clumps of white and pink ones and as the years went by, the white and pink ones increased in number and the blue declined. I left that home 2 years ago so I dont know if the 'change' is more pronounced this year or not. I'd always put it down to 'cross polination' - particulary the pink ones - that maybe the white ones had stronger genes and white mixed with 'blueish mauve' would explain the pale pinks. Bit simplistic maybe? My local bluebell wood however, is still blue - in a mass they look very blue to me, but up close they look almost violet

[Jenny Green]

Jenny, Bom chicka whoa whoa.

This has had me chuckling so much overnight I just had to say

[Johnboy]

Hi Jenny,
Are you complaining that global warming has affected your sight? 'Cos Bluebells are blue and the Clematis that you show is not Francis Rivers!!
Francis Rivers is a light almost sky blue and the flower is an entirely different shape!!
I hope you feel better later on!!
JB.

[alan refail]

Thanks Johnboy

Another vote for blue.
By way of thanks --- (note the name of the nursery )

http://www.bluebellnursery.com/


Clematis alpina 'Frances Rivis'
A lovely, vigorous, twining climber that bears blue and white flowers in April and May. These are followed by silky seed heads in late summer and autumn.

Alan

[Jenny Green]

Well, it was sold to me as Francis Rivers and looking at Alan's photo the flower shape is the same. Yet another doctored photo! I've yet to see any 'blue' clematis in flower at a garden centre or nursery that is actually the colour that it shows on its label. Mrs Cholmondley's another example. Advertised as blue and not blue.