Bluebells from Seed ?

He was selling seed from the plants in his garden (which he had naturalised from seed that he had, originally, collected in the wild). Dunno if that is right or wrong though.

Interesting, thanks. I have friends nearby that have a huge naturalised Bluebell wood, I'll ask them if I can collect next Spring. That would allow me to collect enough seed to allow for massive wastage on germination, and would thus give me a quicker result.

Is it difficult to collect the seed? Is there a risk that it will "shed" before I get the chance to harvest, or can I harvest it "somewhat green" and then let it dry? The longer the harvesting window is the better chance I will have, of course

 

Pretty sure he'd still need a licence for that. Under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, the relevant offences are:
Section 13 2a - Selling, offering for sale, possessing or transporting for the purpose of sale (live or dead, part or derivative);
Section 13 2b - Advertising (any of these) for buying or selling

Section 13 1a (Intentional picking, uprooting or destruction) doesn't apply to this species.

After flowering, the seed heads move to a more upright position, so if you check reasonably frequently at the right time of year then you should have no trouble collecting enough. After all, in a large population the seed isn't going to be shed all at once.

 

Thanks for that. They have probably 10 acres of bluebell woodland so timing will be spread, as you say, and shouldn't be hard to collect a few thousand seeds. I'll resist selling the "spares" on eBay though

 

Good luck. I'm sure you won't have any trouble. They don't shed straight away anyway so you'll have loads of opportunity to get some. Don't do what I always do though and get way too little then regret it and have to buy or collect more the year after. 10g of seed is a lot of seed but you'll get very tired or bored collecting them on your own. You might want to organise a few helpers.

 

Like a Botany project for the local school outing?

Local "green project" had several acres available to plant with something sustainable, they got the local schools involved, next step was to get all the kids to [find and then] germinate and Acorn in a plastic vending cup and then the kids were invited to go and plant their own tree!! Brilliant use of free labour and child exploitation :patpat:

 

Absolutely. I'm sure the kids would love it too. As long as they don't eat them.