{"id":3593,"date":"2017-05-01T11:39:53","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T10:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/advisor\/gardening-tips\/?p=3593"},"modified":"2023-02-01T14:20:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T14:20:11","slug":"native-bluebells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/native-bluebells\/","title":{"rendered":"Native bluebells\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/bluebell.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/bluebell.jpg 650w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/bluebell-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/bluebell-520x347.jpg 520w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/bluebell-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/find-out-how-gardenadvice-can-help-you-in-your-garden-this-year\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"648\" height=\"50\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/garden-plants-bar.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/garden-plants-bar.jpg 648w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/garden-plants-bar-300x23.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/garden-plants-bar-520x40.jpg 520w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/garden-plants-bar-320x25.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two species of bluebell found in the United Kingdom. Native or British bluebell and non-native Spanish bluebell. Cross-breeding between the two species means you may spot flowers which combine traits from both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The easiest way to tell the difference between native and non-native bluebells is to look at the colour of the pollen. If it is creamy-white then the bluebell is native. If it is any other colour such as pale green or blue then it&#8217;s not native.<br>These other characteristics will also help you to tell the difference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Native Hyacinthoides non-scripta<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Native bluebells<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pollen cream-white colour<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deep violet-blue. A genetic mutation occasionally causes white flowers<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flower stem droops or nods distinctly to one side<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost all flowers are on one side of the stem, hanging down to one side<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flowers are a narrow, straight-sided bell with parallel sides<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Petal tips are reflexed (curl back)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flowers have a strong, sweet scent<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spanish Hyacinthoides hispanica&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spanish bluebells<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spanish bluebells<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pollen green or blue<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pale to mid-blue, often also white or pink<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flower stem is stiff and upright<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flowers are usually all the way round the stem, with the flowers sticking out<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flowers are a wide open, almost cone shaped bell<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Petal tips flare slightly outwards<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flowers have little or no scent at all<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Why are non-native bluebells a threat?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spanish bluebell is a threat to our native species because they readily cross-breed resulting in the fertile hybrid Hyacinthoides hispanica x non-scripta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a problem because crossbreeding dilutes the unique characteristics of our native Bluebell, changing future generations forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most bluebells in urban areas are now thought to be hybrids and a study by Plantlife found that one in six broadleaved woodlands contained the hybrid or Spanish bluebells.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are two species of bluebell found in the United Kingdom. Native or British bluebell and non-native Spanish bluebell. Cross-breeding between the two species means you may spot flowers which combine traits from both.&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-head-gardener"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/gardening-tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}