Stupid question

I have some bluebells coming up but they have white flowers.
What are they please?

 

The Spanish ones usually have flowers all around the stem, whereas the English have flowers on just one side and the flower stem "droops" in a arch ... if that helps?

The Spanish ones are a nuisance and personally I dig them up and dispose of them in favour of the English ones as the Spanish ones are stronger they take over otherwise ...

 

Unfortately my photo file is too big so I can't post it but it does seem to be a spanish type of Bluebell.I think it looks quite nice.

 

As a new gardener, I thought they looked nice too
My brother who has been gardening for a while hates them
I used to visit his house and the borders were an expance of bluebells Oh great pretty
why would you hate having those

Now I am into gardening I now know why

You want your own nice planted border, but the Spanish bluebells just swamp what you plant, so yes you grow to hate them

It is not looking good for me as a new gardener though, he asked if I was sure and I got a half bag of the bulbs, took them home chuffed to bits planted them and NOWT ZILCH NOTHING :-(
So my dream borders of general plants does not seem promising does it ?

Jack McH

 

Watch your back Jack.
They'll suddenly appear - and probably not where you expect them.
I've given away and thrown masses of bulbs, still have thousands in the garden and they still keep appearing where not expected.
Because I have a "nursery bed", which means somewhere I dump all my used compost and grow on cuttings from shrubs etc., I think I am actually transporting bits of bulbs around the garden.
Each Spring I dig out hundreds of Bluebells - if you want more, take em away - PLEASE

 

ARMANDII...Interesting I have never seen a white Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia.
To me Harebells are blue.

Harebells have rhizomatus roots. Bluebells grow from bulbs.

Bluebells will be flowering now or very soon will be..
While harebells flower in late spring. and right through to the autumn.

When they flower harebells are dainty, nodding, on fine thin stalks.
They leaves are also very dainty and at first like chives.

Bluebell leaves are far beefier and vigorous. With many flowers growing up a stalk.

Quote...

Like other Campanulas, all parts of the plant exude white latex when injured or broken.

http://www.commanster.eu/commanster/Plants/Flowers/SpFlowers/Campanula.rotundifolia.html
.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&sugexp=frgbld&gs_nf=1&cp=22&gs_id=3&xhr=t&q=campanula+rotundifolia&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=647&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=jGJ1T9rdBs_D8QPgvLTIDQ
.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula_rotundifolia

 

Yeah, they do, like many "effective" menaces :( The English ones look nice too, although it may be personal preference which you prefer - the murdering Spanish one, or the demure English one (I hope I'm not appearing biased at all? !!)

English:



Spanish:

 

If you use the "Upload a file" button on the reply box, this forum resizes it for you straight from your computer . And you can choose between a clickable thumbnail or a larger image.

This photo started life as a 1.5mg image and has been converted to an 800pixel image

 

There's a (relatively modest) max size on that though, so it will reject a file (for example) straight-from-camera.

 

Drifting off slightly, I remember bluebells being so abundant that everyone used to pick them for their mam for mother's day. It was actually encouraged too. Now they are protected. They're on I think its schedule 8 in the wildlife and countryside act. Probably because us kids went and picked them all for our mams.

 

I think you can pick them Clueless ... but you can't dig 'em up. Dunno for sure though ...

 

The Woodland trust site has accurate info on what is legal and what is not.....

Quote...

"Can you pick them?

Native bluebells are protected against sale by law. This means it’s illegal to dig up the bulbs from the wild in order to sell them.
In fact if you don’t own the land it is illegal to dig up the bulbs for any purpose
However In England and Wales it is possible pick the leaves, flowers or seeds for your own use but in Scotland you can be charged for doing this.
But the flowers are unlikely to survive long enough for you to take home and put in water, so advice is that if you don’t need to pick the bluebells leave them where they are so everyone can enjoy them."

http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/our-woods/visiting/best-woods-for/pages/bluebells.aspx#.T3Y3y6veApk