It is said that if you turn a bluebell flower inside-out without tearing it, you will win the one you love, and if you wear a wreath of bluebells you will only be able to speak the truth. Bluebells have been used for a variety of different things throughout history, not just for ornamental purposes. Their sticky sap was once used to bind the pages of books and glue the feathers onto arrows, and during the Elizabethan period, their bulbs were crushed to make starch for the ruffs of collars and sleeves.
Due to their toxicity, there has been little use for bluebells in modern medicine. However, their bulbs have diuretic increases urination and styptic helps to stop bleeding properties, and research on how these flowers could potentially help fight cancer is ongoing.
While the bluebell is still common throughout Britain, it is under threat locally from habitat destruction, hybridisation with non-native bluebells and the illegal trade of wild-collected bulbs. Bluebells can take years to recover from the damage caused by trampling, and if their leaves are crushed they can be weakened as they can no longer photosynthesise. The bluebell is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act This means digging up the plant or bulb in the countryside is prohibited and landowners are prohibited from removing bluebells from their land to sell.
The species was also listed on Schedule 8 of the Act in , which makes trading in wild bluebell bulbs and seeds an offence. This legislation was designed to protect bluebell from unscrupulous bulb collectors who supply garden centres.
Bluebell is an ancient-woodland-indicator plant. If you spot it while you're out exploring, it could be a sign you're standing in a rare and special habitat. Have you seen the first ladybird of the year or the last swallow of summer?
Tell us about the nature near you and help scientists track the effects of climate change on wildlife. A quarter of our woodland is ancient or semi-natural which is an ideal habitat for bluebells. Bluebells are not the easiest subject to photograph. Dappled light leads to contrast and colour issues and there's the practical aspect of trying not to damage the very thing you're celebrating.
Photographer Hugh Mothersole has top tips for phone snappers and professionals alike. Just so, is it OK to pick bluebells? It is illegal for anyone to collect native bluebells in the wild for the purpose of selling them. Subsequently, question is, how do you get rid of bluebells? Dig the soil around the plants, then feel in the soil until you find all the bulbs. Remove the runners you find below ground as well. These plants are so tough they'll sprout right through a compost heap if you dump them in right away.
Kill bluebell bulbs by adding a little bit more effort. If you want to help your bluebells spread , lift and divide bulbs after flowering.
If your bluebells thrive, spreading will also happen naturally via bulb division and seed. Dense clumps of bluebells may eventually out-compete more delicate spring plants or spread to the 'wrong' place in your garden. Give them a light feed with a granular general plant food after flowering. Watering with a liquid plant food after flowering and until the foliage starts to die down will help build up their strength and size for the following year's flowering.
Allow the foliage to die down naturally after flowering. Their rich scent might enhance the temptation to pick the flowers, but they won't last anything like as long in a vase , quickly wilting and dying, although it's interesting to note that picking the flowers is not as damaging to the plant as treading down the leaves.
Why are you not allowed to pick bluebells? Most of our wild plants that have become extinct have apparently been lost in the last fifty years as a result of changes in land use, the development of waste ground, more extensive management of roadside verges and other green areas and, significantly, the loss of hedgerows and woodland - even through changes in the way we manage our own gardens.
Which and how many wild flowers you see will depend on where you look, because like all plants, they are adapted to different growing conditions. The ideal way to protect them is to conserve the conditions where they grow naturally.
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