I have one like your second one but mind ended up much darker blue and with a clearer white after I put it in my south window. I also looked to see if I could find a name for it but so many look alike I gave up.

Bear

the best i got was 'little axel' - but that's a mini. i think these are standards. they are just small.
i keep mine on shelves in somewhat obstructed west window. so they get very good dappled sun - bordering on too much at times. but that gives me very vibrant color and fast thick growth.
as you say, they get brighter, more intense.
after sev months with me they usually look much better ;).

Petrushka,
They are Optimara brand, grown by a licensed local grower. The way you can tell is by the orange-clay colored thin plastic pots they came in You can go to the Optimara website, Optimara.com. On the left is a tab for Variety Identification. You will find photos of their various light blue plants. They have a lot of light blue plants this summer. Looks like you got two pretty ones. Sometimes the photos are not an exact match, but close enough. Optimara often has several different varieties in almost the same color, it
can be hard to tell them apart. Joanne

i did read about the pots, so i looked at optimara site, but at the gallery - after looking for 15 min at dozens of pics i gave up!
so now i went to do ID search, like you said, and the only ones close were - left: sami. but mine has less defined white outline. and the right looks like hiroshige.
so this is close-up of sami look-alike. darker deeper blue, barely any white at all.

This post was edited by petrushka on Sun, Jul 20, 14 at 11:15

and this is hiroshige look-alike.
what do you think?

did some more searching by image. and it looks like optimara monet looks very close for both, except when you look at optimara site that is. then it does not !
this seller's pic for example looks very similar. it seems there's quite a lot of variation.
i guess, i'll have to wait and see how they grow and change.
i am not particular about names ...yet :).
i just pick up whatever looks pretty to me.

Here is a link that might be useful: scroll down to the middle

Petrushka, that is a nice website link you sent. Optimara doesn't label their plants unless you buy directly from them. guide. In my experience, if I buy directly from Optimara, I get a plant that has a label and is better grown than what is usually sold by a locally licensed grower. However, once I grow the local plant for a while and fertilize it, and remove the suckers, in a few months, it will look better. The bigger it grows, the bigger the blooms will get.
We have all grown cross-eyed trying to figure out which O we bought! I am almost always wrong!
The photos on the Internet might not reflect what you have because each plant is individual. O is experimenting with a lot of different ones. They might not have them for long. Manitoba grew up to be spectacular. I posted a photo on the gallery. Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Sun, Jul 20, 14 at 20:22

yah, i understand.
i noticed that once i grow them they get to look much better, more saturated colors, much more blooms,etc.
i'll start taking pics before and after, just to see the difference. i didn't do it before, now i will. it's a good reference as far as color change goes.
i found this opti site - with very large photos, very nice.
somehow if i go to home site i can't find this page. but google found it direct.

Here is a link that might be useful: big opti pics by color

That is interesting, to be able to compare side by side.
Keeping a photo journal is a good idea.
Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Tue, Jul 22, 14 at 1:38

the darker one (1st pic left) rebloomed already. usually i see a big difference with flowers, but not this time. seems the color stayed the same.
the top one is original, the other two as it is now.

You have some lovely plants! As mentioned, many Optimaras are difficult to id as they are changeable. For example, here is my plant of Montana II showing its summer colors. . . Looks somewhat like yours. Optimara always keeps identifying interesting!

thanks! that's great, i think it looks very similar! perhaps a little more white on the top half then mine. half of mine are a bit darker on top.
do yours get darker at any time?

I don't recall any darker blooms, mostly it looks like the picture. Of course, this variety is supposed to be all white, but Optimara explained that it changes colors with heat. I know some of their thumbprints look different in the summer as opposed to winter.

Terri

yah, i saw white pics on optimara site and was wondering. but my violets stay in mostly 'same' conditions. except they actually get more dappled light in winter and shoulder seasons. while in summer i have to move them away from windows (too much light) and/or shade them.
and they are a bit hotter too in summer and may be up to 10F cooler in winter.
so these are my summer flowers at this point with direct dappled/filtered west light. my strongest low late afternoon light is coming in the next 2 months.

i have one that looks like those too... and im thinking that they are this one... straight from optimara ..... Da Vinci. :) i know the color is a little odd but in looking on google and such... yeah. :) heres two pics of the plant i tried to id:

Did you try joining the Optimara id FB group and posting your photos there? That's probably the best way. I was reasonably certain but they confirmed my R. Michelle and myJoy from the local grocery store.

Diana

i think O da vinci is too much into violet and more intense in color.

i still think that O sami and O monet are closest choices - both paler dustier blue.

oh, and i almost busted mine :) . darker is regrowing pretty well and it is very stubbornly double crowned (now on 3! seedlings). of the paler one - i am still barely out of mouse ears...in 1/2" leaf stage, clustered.

I have found that O plants morph easily, I sometimes think the O company names them just to entertain us, but is not too focused on the subtle differences. Then, next year, there will be a whole new batch that look almost the same but have new names. For example, I have a Cora grown cold that is practically all white. On their i.D. page, it is mostly purple. Exciting about your seedlings, by the way.