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

I hadn't thought about the bees carrying the pollen. We're about a mile away from our woods.

Gosh - just seen this. I wish I could get rid of my bluebells. I have been digging them up and deadheading for about 25 years. I just about keep them from spreading, until one pops up in the middle of a flower bed.I throw all of them in the waste bin. Its about the only thing that I don't compost.
For under trees I have aconites and anemones, though these flower a little earlier.

if they smell nice they will be english. spanish ones are bigger/coarser/not so blue and don't smell/ and heads don't hang down

Oh are these good for pots? Love them.

Get proper English bluebells, which are scented and delicate. Much micer than the Spanish ones.

Bufffffffffy! - I bet yours are natives. The leaves of English bluebells and narrower and they nod downwards in a spray on one side of the stem whereas Spanish ones are more spaced out on both sides and tend to have a top half that points upwards rather than nodding. However, neither of those are very reliable characteristics because bluebells have the darndest tendency to look slightly different at different phases of the flowering - mine are natives but the flowers have a crazy day or two of pointing upwards right at the end when they are going over. A more reliable thing is to look at the anthers inside the flowers - they are cream on natives, but blue on Spanish.

As PPs have said, the scent does mean it's likely they're native - and you remember them being scented, so that's a good sign! I wouldn't be surprised if they are and they've been there aaaaages.

Your garden is amazing, I am still