Bluebells

[Forsythya]

I like bluebells - but I'm confused about bulbs and seeds - and I know bulbs are protected.... Can anyone advise me please? Thanks

If they are protected I am in serious trouble as I've spent the last 3 years trying to rid my garden of them, they are so invasive. They were all in existence when we bought the house, lots of small bulbs.

What are you confused about exactly?

Surely the only protection bit is you aren't allowed to dig them up in woodlands etc that don't belong to you. Those in your own garden are fair game. I think 😀

Don't! They're a bloody nightmare. My whole garden is over run with them. I spend weeks pulling them up and digging for the bulbs and the little feckers pop back up in spring.

I want to put some in the garden. Have see both bulbs and seeds for sale online. Don't see how there can be seeds and bulbs? Never see them in the garden centre?

I want to put some in the garden. Have see both bulbs and seeds for sale online. Don't see how there can be seeds and bulbs? Never see them in the garden centre?

Spanish bluebells are fairly readily for sale (and are invasive/thuggish).

It's the native British ones which are protected and should not be offered for sale.

Check what you are buying.

We have rampant Spanish bluebells in the garden, finding them a bit irritating, but haven't tried to get rid of them yet. Might start digging them up as they appear in spring. I would not recommend them.

You can have mine. Bloody things get everywhere and look shit 98% of the time.

Grown them in tubs or you'll regret it!

Thanks for the advice.

Maybe it's not the best idea I've ever had.

We had a couple appear in our lawn this spring. We haven't planted any and have a walled garden. We do visit our local bluebell wood for walks. I can only assume some seeds made it home on our walking boots. Would now be a good time to napalm the lawn?

My front garden bed is full of Spanish bluebells-all leaf, not much flower! Nothing else can grow in that bed now so it looks bare for the rest of the summer. I'm gonna start pulling them out when they appear next year!

I think there is a bit of confusion here! My understanding is that it's perfectly possible to buy English bluebells from a reputable supplier. What you shouldn't do, for obvious reasons, is to dig them up from the wild and take them home for your garden. It destroys ecosystems and is a thoroughly selfish thing to do - it's also illegal.

If you are buying bluebells, please buy English ones, not Spanish. They are getting shoved out of our woodlands by hybridization so you'll be helping to preserve a lovely native species. The English ones are also more vividly blue, more delicate, and far prettier than their foreign cousins.

Yes, avoid the Spanish ones, we have them in our garden (were there when we moved in) and although they don't spread as such, in the places where they are they do tend to throttle out other plants as their foliage is so dense. Every few years I dig them all out but they do come back. I always deadhead them too. I worry about the hybridisation threat to bluebell woods, we live close to an amazing one.

Having said that, they look lovely when they are in flower.

Bulbs have different ways to multiply.
The bulbs can multiply itself in the ground, and the flowers produce seeds that in time become bulbs. The seeds are obviously cheaper, but take more time (often years) to produce flowers.
Can't talk about bluebells, but Scilla flowers are lovely, and invasive in a nice way. You can plant them in the lawn. I am working on getting a similar effect with muscari. Beautiful, but you have to be able to live with a longish lawn in the beginning of the summer.

The most effective way I have found of producing bluebells is by disturbing the soil (this also seems to work for the larger daffodils). My guess is that it mimics the action of rabbits or boar, and causes them to multiply like crazy! There is a problem with bluebell seed breaking dormancy once it's been dried out, so a packet of seeds might be a bit chancey (this doesn't apply if you scatter ripe seed straight from plants though). I'm finding that several things germinate way better from seed taken straight from the plant when only just ripe than very dessicated seed in packets.

As Shovetheholly says, I've bought English bluebells online from a reputable source and it's legal. I'm also trying to eradicate Spanish bluebells from the garden, but it's tricky and they are very stubborn.

We had muscari in our garden when we moved in too, they are also impossible to
eliminate and I don't particularly like them.

Muscari instead - I love them.

I'm with whoknows on the dark blue muscari, but there are some much more gorgeous light blue and white ones that are quite superior

Or snowdrops? Or cyclamen? Both are lovely, most can manage shade (I presume you're quite shaded if looking at bluebells?)

Or ALL OF THE ABOVE (clearly the right answer).

its best not to buy spanish ones if you live next door to a bluebell wood as they cross pollinate and mess up the natural british ones. they like dappled shade (no surprise there)

Yes - definitely don't buy Spanish ones for that reason (bees can carry the pollen a way, too, so just don't risk it). Plus the fact that they don't smell as good, they're not as pretty, the colour's not as nice.