On Sun, 30 Jan 2011 10:19:31 +0000, Sacha wrote:

On 2011-01-30 00:45:45 +0000, "Christina Websell"
said:
[...]

secret my foreign friend insisted on digging up some bluebells in the wild
while I sat on a log telling her not to and how illegal it was and sweating
in case the bluebell police came..
She took them home, but they did not survive their winter. Dammit - it
would have been worth it if they had.
Tina

It's extraordinary to me to think of bluebells as being tender but of
course, why not?! I hope our 'good' ones have survived our winter
here.

I wonder where the failed introduction took place. They're fully hardy
in our terms, and an American site even claims they withstand Zone 4
temps, in the minus thirties C. They do detest being out of the
ground, though, as the "bulbs" have no protective tunic: I wonder if
these ones were badly weakened by being out of the soil, or some other
factor didn't suit them.

English bluebells are a big responsibility: the Brit Isles have most
of the world population, and they are vulnerable to hybridisation.

--
Mike.