Harvesting bluebell seeds

[spandit]

With my new woodland underway, I'd like to have a carpet of bluebells and was going to dig some up from elsewhere on the property to transplant but then the wonderful Toddy mentioned that hers were in seed so I went to check:

Sure enough, many of the dead flower heads were packed full of little black seeds

Now, these are very loosely held and trying to extract them from amongst the bracken was quite difficult, as the slightest touch would scatter them all over.

However, I got a few into the tin:

Once back inside, I spread them out on some kitchen roll to allow the insects that had fallen into the tin to escape

The plan is to scatter some of them in my new woodland and try to germinate some of the rest. I've heard that it takes a while for them to mature enough to flower but the trees are going to take a while to provide sufficient cover anyway so no great hurry!

 

[Toddy]

Nice harvest

If you scatter them somewhere with a light covering of gravel or roughish ground with preferably lots of leaf mould they'll quietly nestle in and keep moist enough to start well next spring.
First year they'll come up like thin, thin grass stalks and that's the only chance they'll have to get enough light to build a wee bulb. It looks like a mini onion bulb that first year. The second year the bulb will stretch out and become more like a shallot, and if there's a lot of good light it might try to flower, but that's rare really.
The third year, if the bulb has found a good site, it'll thrust up leaves and a flower stem and it's all go from there
Three years and you'll have started to carpet a Spring woodland

If you want to give them a head start you can sow the seeds in compost trays (with the gravel on top) or pots, and keep them cool and not bone dry or sodden wet until Spring. When they kick off put the trays somewhere where they can have light and moisture and the bulbs will thrive. When they die back in Summer those bulbs are ready to be planted out and left to come up in their own time next Spring. Don't plant them too deep but deep enough not to dry out, and again, aim for leaf mould or dig in some of the stuff from the compost bin.

I must have planted hundreds of bluebells, and Spring is always a pleasure

atb,
Mary

 

[Macaroon]

I've done this in the past, and have been asked to do so again this year by one of my perms.................I raked the ground roughly clear and then scattered the seed, raked it in and pulled the covering I'd cleared back over the top of them. Three years later we had a lovely show of flowers and now some fifteen yrs. on what was a couple of square meters has become ten times that and is nice and densely populated with good strong plants.

This time around I'm going to grow them in large-ish containers, as for the first two years the plants are very grass-like and easy to damage and the new location sees a good bit of traffic. It'll be interesting to see the results and compare the two approaches. Good luck with yours