Not many gardeners are lucky enough to have an entire woodland to plant with beautiful bluebells, but the blue carpet can still look extremely pretty on even a relatively modest scale, such as when it is confined to an orchard or beneath a mixed deciduous hedge. Both the larger Spanish bluebell and the more delicate English bluebell are available in white and shades of blue and pink, and both species will settle down with ease and multiply and this may cause a problem, for if they are planted close together they will interbred, and the seedlings will show characteristics of both parents.

While this may not be an issue in your garden, it does have wider ramifications. If bees have taken nectar from Spanish bluebells and the next generation of mixed bluebells in your garden and then fly off and take nectar from native English bluebells growing in the hedgerows or woods, the result will be a diminution of the precious and dwindling native stock.

If possible, avoid the thuggish, though attractive Hispania and remove any that are growing in your garden, including any mixed Spanish and English seedlings. Choosing the more delicate scripter will help to sustain numbers of one of the more evocative and beautiful of all British wildflowers. Plant bulbs of English bluebells in groups in the autumn, cut and allow them to self seed, or buy them as growing plants in the green in late spring.

Plant immediately on purchase and allow them to self seed. Camasses bears long racemes of cup shaped, pale blue flowers. It will cope with quite shady positions in grass or borders.