Bluebells from Seed ?

Do you think it is worth growing (English) Bluebells from seed?

10g is a fiver, and that would be about 1,000 seeds. 1/2" apart in a seed tray and leave it out for stratification - does that sound about right?

Could I expect to get 50% success or better do you think? (several years to flower, I know, but I'm in no hurry for them to naturalise)

 

Have you already got bluebells planted Kristen? They self seed and grow very easily, you could dig them up and move them when they develop.

I have bluebells coming up in my garden, where from I don't know, I pull the flowers heads off to stop them self seeding, they're even growing in my lawns and I dig them out where I can or they will take over.

 

No, not really. I've got maybe a dozen, lifted from my Mother's garden, but they are a long way from where I want to establish them.

I have a few clumps of the dreaded Spanish ones, which I chop down each year before they flower/seed ... one year soon I'll dig them up properly, and then poison them if they come back.

I was going to plant 1,000 Bluebells in-the-green next Spring, but looking at my plans I reckon I have enough to do ... and a few seed trays left out to weather and grow on won't be in the way.

But maybe I should make-time for planting them in-the-green instead, and then let them self seed and spread?

 

For a fiver I wonder if it's worth buying the seed and just going out and scattering it now and see if they come up in the spring.

 

Tried that :( I bought some seeds from a nice chap on eBay who sent a lovely note with it about how he had collected some seed originally to naturalise in his garden and, having done that, he now wanted to encourage others to do the same.

None came up :( I made shallow holes with a stick, and stuck one seed in each. Didn't take long, but obviously didn't work :( His seed may have been duff, but given how much trouble he went to in all other regards (i.e. he struck me as being even more OCD than me!) I doubt it.

Hence I thought if I did it again I would do seed trays to give them a better change of getting established.

 

For a fiver Kristen, like you say not a lot to loose and once sown and put out of mind's way so to speak not a lot to worry about. Perhaps it may be worth doing the seeds and planting a fewer amount of 'in the green' bluebells to get you underway, then once your have hopefully grown from seed you can plant them out too and have several year classes and you won't be waiting 3-5 years for the seed grown ones to flower

 

No I do not, waste of time, they pop by themselves, and make their own babies in due time.

 

Just a thought, but when the seed falls (or gets pooped out of a bird) it doesn't bury itself.
Are they for a woodland spot? If so, buy now and spread then let the rotting leaves do the rest when they drop.

 

Bluebells are very easy to grow from seed, though they do require a winter in the ground. You don't have to be particular with the seed. Just scatter it where you want them to grow. The bulbs are not expensive though and will divide. Bb bulbs can be cut into pieces and will grow, at least the hybrids will grow from the smallest piece. They are a woodland plant so need shade to do best.

Please note that English Bluebells hybridise so easily with Spanish Bluebells. So if you live anywhere near someone with Spanish you can be sure your seedlings will be Spanglish hybrids. So it's better NOT to let them set seed.

Get your seed from a reputable firm like Naturscape or Emorsgate Seeds so you KNOW that A, you've got English Bluebells rather than hybrids or Spanish and B, you know they haven't been plundered from the wild. Our native English Bluebells are under serious threat from the Spanish.

I'm having a hard time of getting rid of all the hybrids from my garden. Not least because they burry themselves so deep and the seeds can lay dormant for more than a year.

It isn't easy to tell the difference between the three types (English, Spanish and Spanglish) but there are certain markers to look for.

English Bluebells:
Have flowers only on one side of the stem.
The stem bends over because it is slender.
The pollen is creamy-white
They are scented.
The colour is deep blue.
The flowers ore narrow tubes which get narrower before curving back.

Spanish Bluebells:
Have flowers around the stem.
The flower stems are straight up.
The pollen is coloured green or blue NOT cream.
They have no scent.
The colour is washed out.
The flowers are open and the petals hardly curve at all.

Obviously hybrids will have a mixture of characters. Apparently the most dominant feature of Spanish Bb's is the coloured pollen. So if the pollen is not cream then it's Spanish or Spanglish.

 

Here's a very good reason to ensure you get your Bluebells from a reputable firm. Compare these hybrids to the links above.

 

Well ... yeah ... but in fairness they've probably just stuffed "a picture of bluebells" on that product. The product might well be English, even if the photo is not ... but you are right that we should be cautious Chatting to an RHS Judge, who lives near me, a couple of months ago he was saying they had bought, and planted, thousands of English Bluebells last year - from a highly respected source - and they had all come up flowering Spanish :( this year, and he was wondering how the heck he would, now, get rid of them. If he can be hoodwinked there's not much hope for me!

 

Oh, lordi, that is really Bad, and they are REALLY hard to get rid of!

However, the two companies I mentioned are really committed to British natives especially Emorsgate. I've bought bulbs from shiptonbulbs.co.uk, and Naturescape and seeds from Emorsgate seeds and would highly recommend all three. Naturescape provided me with 1st class bulbs on many occasions and I can vouch for them being English Bluebells.

Regarding the company with the Spanglish Bb picture and English Bb description, if a company is selling a plant and can't be bothered or too clueless to get a picture of the right species then they don't deserve you as a customer.
By the way:
Spanish Bb's - Hyacinthoides hispanica
English Bb's - Hyacinthoides non-scripta

 

I agree, but its commonplace. "Not got a picture of the 2-lamp model, stick the photo of the 4-lamp model there instead"

Many companies have to either buy stock photos, or commission photographers to take them. For flowers if its the wrong season then ... photographers can't do their stuff; where that isn't the case they still have to organise the photography.

We build and sell very large eCommerce packages, and our clients generally do better, but they still stagger me at lack of attention to detail in online "copy" - whereas with a printed catalogue it goes through endless proof reading etc. Similar with replying to Emails - phone them up and they will answer immediately, send them an email with the same question and they might take a week to reply. No idea why they thing that online needs any less Care & Attention.

I tell our clients to get a summer student in to take the photos - they only need a low resolution image for the web. Clients prefer to see "Photo coming soon" for months until they next have a, hugely expensive, photo shoot". Beats me!

 

There are a lot of people who buy because they 'just like the colour' I suppose. I read an article in the Telgraph on line about Bluebells. The guy said, he preferred the colour and didn't care about the impact on our British flora. What can you do? The name 'Clarkson' suddenly springs to mind for some reason. I can't think why.

 

You can of course collect seed yourself from the wild, to be certain of what you're growing. This also allows you to grow plants from your local area. To avoid the possibility of hybridisation, obviously collect from a large patch without any Spanish/hybrid ones nearby.

Seed collection for your own use is fine legally (in England at least) and does no harm to the wild population. Any kind of trade though is illegal without a licence, including (by the sound of it) this chap on ebay.