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Preserving English Bluebells

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  • FlyDragonFlyDragon Posts: 834
    Your garden your choice...but the hatred against the Spanish ones is absolutely ridiculous and really not based on anything concrete in the context of domestic scale gardening. I suppose in the age of nativism in politics it has crept a bit more in horticulture...a field you'd think would be immune being the most international of fields. But hey let's wave that flag and bow to the moron royals 🤣

    Um, that's a bit harsh!  I like Spain very much, its nothing to do with nationalism thank you very much its about wanting to do my best to support the local wildlife!
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Compared to the native bluebell, Spanish ones look coarse and flabby and a lot like a hyacinth that's been starved.   No perfume either.

    I much prefer the delicate arching of the flower stem and the clear blue of the native flower along with the finer foliage. 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    I think bluebells are best enjoyed growing in great expanses, I think they need that scale for the flowers to have impact. You could use things like Chionodoxa or Scilla for a similar effect on a smaller scale (they are smaller in every way and result in less dying back foliage).
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • Yes that true @Loxley I've kept mine as they were free. 

    A patch of ten plants wouldn't give massive amounts of fragrance @Obelixx and they don't look untidy. Had I had a woodland garden I'd agree as en masse they can look spectacular for a couple of weeks.

    And this is the clincher for me, they don't stay in flower for long enough to really warrant too much involvement. They add a bit of joy and they go. And we all move on to our more important plants with a much longer season of interest. 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I assume  this one's  Spanish  but it's  welcome  to stay growing  out of my step 

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FlyDragonFlyDragon Posts: 834
    B3 said:
    I assume  this one's  Spanish  but it's  welcome  to stay growing  out of my step 

    That’s very pretty!  The Spanish ones in my garden don’t look anything like that sadly!
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Spanish but not bad.  Finer foliage than usual.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Not too many complaints about my small colony 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • FlyDragonFlyDragon Posts: 834
    I love bluebells. At my parents house, their borders around their lawn area, is covered with them. I have taken numerous clumps from them and planted them in our garden. I've had a single bulb take and flower. All the rest have gone. I'd love mine to grow, let alone spread. 😥
    I've read that they can take years to flower, so don't lose hope!
  • FlyDragonFlyDragon Posts: 834
    Not too many complaints about my small colony 


    Mine never look that pretty, the flowers stay quite small and compact and then shrivel:


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