Summer looks like a distant dream at the moment and in the UK we seem to be stuck in perpetual spring. Whilst that means cool days and cold nights it has brought about the longest lasting spring flower display in decades. It’s now mid May and I still have daffodils in bloom in my garden but the special gift given to us by nature this spring are the bountiful glades of Bluebells.

Voted Britain’s most popular wild flower in a Plantlife poll, the UK is the international stronghold for the native Bluebell. In fact we have between 25% and 50% of the world’s population! But the native bluebell is under threat from foreign invaders, the Spanish Bluebell. Not since the time of the Armada has Britain faced such a threat to sovereignty from the Iberian peninsula.

Native bluebells are a protected species as to trample or damage the plants leads to their death. To feed our fascination for bringing the wild into our gardens we have imported and planted the Spanish variety with the added benefit that they have larger blooms. However, cross breeding with the wild bluebell is producing a hybrid that threatens the existence of the indigenous variety.

How it will end no one knows but The Natural History Museum is doing all it can to help preserve the British Bluebell.

In Cyprus, as in the UK, Bluebell corms are available in garden centres and bowls of them in flower are available from florists such as Cosmea Gardens. Once they have finished flowering, keep them cool and moist but please don’t dispose of them in the wild as this will help to wipe out the natural Bluebells. In the next post, I’ll show you a very simple arrangement you can make with Bluebells that will brighten any windowsill or shelf. And don’t worry, I won’t be using wild ones!!