English bluebells

With low-pressure domination, and mist and drizzle all day, I thought I might as well take advantage of the spectacular display in the bluebell meadows of Newton Wood. I believe these are mostly English bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, although there may well be some Spanish bluebells in there or some hybridisation of the two. English bluebells have their flowers down one side of the stem which therefore droop. The Spanish, on the other hand, have flowers all around the stem and so are upright. That’s the main difference. The Spanish don’t have any smell as well. They were introduced by the Victorians but like many other plants have escaped the confines of the garden and have become firmly established in the wild. It was feared that they are more vigorous and could out-compete our native bluebells for light and space but recently it has been discovered that they, in fact, have a lower fertility and are unlikely to wipe out the native plant.