Bluebells help!

[Aswad]

Hello, miraculously I have some bluebells that grow in my garden that come back year after year! I’m surprised as I do absolutely nothing and I have some questions please:

what are these green things that have sprouted since I brought some indoors and placed in water?

can I deadhead (new word I recently learnt) and bring them indoors to dry out with the view of using the seeds? Or do I have to naturally wait for them to dry out completely (only issue is they’re taking up previous space and I’m excited to plant other flowers!)

are there any other plants that are just as easy to grow and maintain?

thank you so much! I’ve tried Googling the answers for the first two but I can’t find anything!
thank you again

The green things are the seeds! Let them develop then save them

The green things are seed heads. By picking the flowers, you’ll have stopped the seeds maturing so it’s unlikely they’ll grow from that.
Bluebells grow from bulbs - the flowers will self-seed, then the seeds need to grow underground into bulbs. It takes a few years.
if you need that patch of garden, your best option is to dig up the entire patch and replant them elsewhere. Carefully!
Having said that, are they English or Spanish bluebells? I can’t tell from the photo. Spanish bluebells are big, and the flowers go all the way around the stem.

can I deadhead (new word I recently learnt) and bring them indoors to dry out with the view of using the seeds? Or do I have to naturally wait for them to dry out completely (only issue is they’re taking up previous space and I’m excited to plant other flowers!)
I have rogue bluebells. Can't get rid of them!
If you tried to dig yours up you would probably find that the bulb is at least 6 inches deep. You can do all sorts of digging and planting of new things and I doubt that the bluebells would notice. They are as tough as old boots.

Thank you all so much
@NoToLandfill how will I know when they’ve developed? I read the seeds have to turn black? Should I take them out of the water. Thank you!

@PlatinumBrunette I think they’re English or at least hybrid? They droop and they’re not particularly big. I know I’m not supposed to spread the Spanish kind! Thank you too!
@senua thank you as well! I love them and the fact that they keep coming back makes me hopeful! Do you know if anything else I can plant that behaves the same way? I am going to create a calendar so that I’ll hopefully have flowers throughout summer and I’m getting into composting my food scraps!

They look like Spanish, or at least hybrid, bluebells. There is a preference for the native bluebells so you’ll be discouraged from propagating them OP. My own front garden is rammed with bluebells like yours, they self-seed like mad. The bugs like them though, and they look lovely, so they’re staying for now.

I thought they were Spanish as the flowers look like they’re on both sides, may just be how they’ve fallen as you’ve laid them down. Are the flowers all round the stem or just on one side?

@SockFluffInTheBath the flowers definitely go around both sides; just my bloody luck 😂 I guess I’ll leave them be then haha
do you know if anything else that grows just as easily? With little maintenance or interference from me
thank you 😊

anything else I can plant that [keeps coming back]?
For Spring: iris, allium, forget-me-not
For Summer: penstemon, euphorbia, cranesbill geranium, knautia, astrantia.

Basically, go for the native, cottage-garden plants.

I have masses of forget-me-nots all round the garden. They look a bit scratty in midwinter and I have to resist the urge to tear them out but they’re lovely right now. I think they’re biannual so you need to sow seed 2 years running but then they should take care of it themselves. This is by my front door…

Tulips are pretty reliable if you get the cheap basic ones and plant them in areas that don’t stay too wet. Snowdrops are nice and early, and slowly spread.

Plants that can be ignored and thrive are often ones that spread and try to take over so be careful however they include

violets, sweet woodruff, fleabane, valerian, deadnettle.

So true. Add Italian arum, vinca and ivy to the pretty but thug list!

Add to the list of pretty thugs - Variegated ground elder, arum, pulmonaria, epimidium (the basic yellow one, forgotten the name, you can have a clump of mine...)

And euphorbia!

@SockFluffInTheBath you know you don't need to leave the scratty dead forget me nots over the winter - they seed after they've flowered and then you can rip them out at will. I always pull them once theyve gone brown and never have any lack the following spring 🙂 I tend to give the brown plants a good shake to distribute the seeds and then chuck them in the compost.

Muscari (grape hyacinths) are pretty prolific and spread well without becoming thugs. I don't do anything to mine apart from a light mulching of the bed (generally, not specifically for them) early spring. I've branched out and planted some white ones to go with the classic blues this year.

@BewareTheBeardedDragon that’s very interesting, thank you. Mine were green though if it makes a difference (new growth?).

@SockFluffInTheBath ah - maybe ignore me then. I thought you meant you were leaving the dead brown plants over winter 😂

@BewareTheBeardedDragon that’s a bridge too far 😂

Thank you all so very much; lots of plant names for me to Google as well as terminology like variegated, mulching and branched 😂
thanks again!!!

I think they are Spanish bluebells and are pretty thuggish ime. I have loads in my garden and remove and dispose of the seed heads to get rid of them! Fighting a losing battle though. I don’t mind them for about a week but otherwise don’t like them much. I do like English bluebells but don’t have any.
you don’t need to do anything if you like them. They’ll come back whatever you do!

Aquilegia is rather pretty and spreads like mad from seeds - you can pick the seed heads once they're dry and just shake them where you want more plants to come up next year. If you get a few different colours they'll hybridise and you'll get some interesting colour combinations - like a lucky dip!

They grow anywhere but they like the shade too, so quite good for an awkward corner that doesn't get much sun.

I have this stuff in a sunny border - planted one plant last spring, have ignored it ever since, and it's completely taking over and looks fab

@GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut they look lovely and another word to add to my gardening vocabulary (hybridise) 😂

I find snapdragons very fuss free and beautiful. They self seed like mad. Also verbascum, foxgloves, verbena bonariensis (sp?), bronze fennel, mallow.