Wild in the city: Get out to enjoy our beautiful bluebells
Little wisps of mist are gathering in wooded patches. In the coming weeks they will form a thick blue fog. The bluebell season is the only time Londoners are happy to see any kind of fog, and it is nearly upon us.
Bluebells in full bloom are hard to beat. It is difficult to preserve the sight and smell in anything other than the memory: photos always look disappointingly green and never capture the way these flowers turn a woodland floor bright blue.
A disappointing imitation comes from the Spanish bluebell, Hyacinthoides hispanica. Unlike the native English bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, this garden escape is more upright, has slightly paler and larger scentless flowers which go all around the stem as opposed to flopping on one side — and never manages to make the same low-creeping mist as its relative.
The two species can hybridise, producing plants with blue pollen rather than the cream that you’ll find in the English species. Though the Spanish bluebell has managed to make its own deep-pile carpets in some parts of the capital, such as Barnes Common, studies by expert botanists have found that it and its hybrid aren’t, contrary to popular belief, outcompeting the English bluebell in truly wild places. The danger that H. non-scripta is in comes from human destruction of its habitat rather than a thuggish relative. It is against the law to pick them — as well as being stupid, given they droop so fast and you cannot catch a mist.
Either way, you shouldn’t miss seeing the ethereal beauty of a bluebell wood over the next few weeks, and you don’t even need to leave London to enjoy this sight.
Hampstead Heath, Chalet Wood in Wanstead, Richmond Park’s Isabella Plantation, Osterley Park and a small area of Hyde Park all have bluebell fogs gathering soon. You simply cannot enjoy these vicariously, so make sure you get out and enjoy it before it fades for another year.
Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of the Spectator and author of The Natural Health Service
