Bluebells
 

I have a friend who has a woodland area in which she would like to
establish some 'real' bluebells ie English kind, not Spanish.
She is having difficulty getting the bulbs.
Does anyone know of a bulk supplier?
--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 18:02:20 +0100, Jane Ransom
wrote:

I have a friend who has a woodland area in which she would like to
establish some 'real' bluebells ie English kind, not Spanish.
She is having difficulty getting the bulbs.
Does anyone know of a bulk supplier?

http://www.bluebellbulbs.co.uk/Catal...ve%20bulbs.htm
Nice folks to deal with.

=================================================

Rod

Weed my email address to reply.
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

On Thu, 07 Oct 2004 18:19:22 +0100, Rod
wrote:

On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 18:02:20 +0100, Jane Ransom
wrote:

I have a friend who has a woodland area in which she would like to
establish some 'real' bluebells ie English kind, not Spanish.
She is having difficulty getting the bulbs.
Does anyone know of a bulk supplier?

http://www.bluebellbulbs.co.uk/Catal...ve%20bulbs.htm
Nice folks to deal with.

Although not the OP, there's a wonderful selection on that web site.
Thanks for the link, Rod. (Off to spend some money!)



--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
bed and breakfast near Ludlow: http://www.stonybrook-ludlow.co.uk
Reply To address is spam trap

In article , Rod rodcraddoc
writes
On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 18:02:20 +0100, Jane Ransom
wrote:

I have a friend who has a woodland area in which she would like to
establish some 'real' bluebells ie English kind, not Spanish.
She is having difficulty getting the bulbs.
Does anyone know of a bulk supplier?

http://www.bluebellbulbs.co.uk/Catal...ve%20bulbs.htm
Nice folks to deal with.

Thanks, Rod - have passed it on :)
--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

Janet Galpin muttered:

Yes, I've found that even when planted as bulbs in the green, they tend
to disappear for two or three years before building up their strength to
reach flowering size again. So seed is probably almost as quick.

They are in a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the soil (the fungi break
down their nutrients for them)... so no fungi no bluebells

The message
from Janet Baraclough.. contains
these words:

The message
from Jane Ransom contains these words:

I have a friend who has a woodland area in which she would like to
establish some 'real' bluebells ie English kind, not Spanish.
She is having difficulty getting the bulbs.
Does anyone know of a bulk supplier?

Bluebells *really* hate being planted as dried bulbs. I recommend she
buys bulk growing bulbs "in the green" next spring (lots of adverts in
gardening mags.) ISTR they cost about £8 per 100.

A far easier, cheaper, more natural looking, and only very slightly
slower method, is to broadcast ripe seed pods (collected in July from
someone else's, with their permission of course) onto the woodland
floor. No preparation or covering required.

Janet

Yes, I've found that even when planted as bulbs in the green, they tend
to disappear for two or three years before building up their strength to
reach flowering size again. So seed is probably almost as quick.
Janet G

Magwitch wrote
They are in a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the soil (the fungi break
down their nutrients for them)... so no fungi no bluebells


You know, the only place I've ever come across that info is in u.r.g
.. Does anyone know of a published work on this matter, or a web site?
and do the suppliers of bluebells supply the fungus?

In article , Magwitch
writes

They are in a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the soil (the fungi break
down their nutrients for them)... so no fungi no bluebells

I thought that applied to orchids, not bluebells.
Certainly we have planted bluebells in various parts of our garden and
they have had no problems establishing and flowering.
--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see

"Magwitch" wrote in message
...
Janet Galpin muttered:

Yes, I've found that even when planted as bulbs in the green, they
tend
to disappear for two or three years before building up their
strength to
reach flowering size again. So seed is probably almost as quick.

They are in a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the soil (the
fungi break
down their nutrients for them)... so no fungi no bluebells

That is not sufficient to define a symbiotic relationship.
In any case, I am fairly certain that that is an old wives' tale, but
am willing to be corrected if you would point out an article in which
this is discussed.
The RHS gardeners' Encyclopedia says nothing about it.

Franz

In article , Jane Ransom
writes
In article , Magwitch
writes

They are in a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the soil (the fungi break
down their nutrients for them)... so no fungi no bluebells

I thought that applied to orchids, not bluebells.
Certainly we have planted bluebells in various parts of our garden and
they have had no problems establishing and flowering.

A lot of plants have symbiotic relationships with fungi. It seems very
critical with orchids - possible reasons could be a) maybe the orchid
symbiont is rare b) maybe orchids are less able than other plants to get
by without the symbiosis

For bluebell symbiosis see:
http://journals.cambridge.org/bin/bl...REQAUTH=0&5000
00REQSUB=&REQSTR1=S0028646X97008885
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

The message
from Jane Ransom contains these words:

In article , Magwitch
writes

They are in a symbiotic relationship with fungi in the soil (the
fungi break
down their nutrients for them)... so no fungi no bluebells

I thought that applied to orchids, not bluebells.
Certainly we have planted bluebells in various parts of our garden and
they have had no problems establishing and flowering.

Likewise.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

In article ,
Kay wrote:

A lot of plants have symbiotic relationships with fungi. It seems very
critical with orchids - possible reasons could be a) maybe the orchid
symbiont is rare b) maybe orchids are less able than other plants to get
by without the symbiosis

Both. It applies almost entirely to the terrestrial ones, not the
epiphytes (even when they are grown in soil). The rarity is the
cause of the soil dependence, and the essential dependence is the
reason that the orchids are so hard to grow artificially.

Birch is very odd, because it can grow perfectly well without its
mycorrhiza, but has more such associations that any other plant I
can think of. Definitely the libertine of the mycorrhizal world!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Martin wrote:
On 9 Oct 2004 10:53:49 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
Kay wrote:

A lot of plants have symbiotic relationships with fungi. It seems very
critical with orchids - possible reasons could be a) maybe the orchid
symbiont is rare b) maybe orchids are less able than other plants to get
by without the symbiosis

Both. It applies almost entirely to the terrestrial ones, not the
epiphytes (even when they are grown in soil). The rarity is the
cause of the soil dependence, and the essential dependence is the
reason that the orchids are so hard to grow artificially.

The Dutch grow them in greenhouses 50,000 at a time.

Er, do you understand the difference between a terrestrial and
epiphytic orchid, and why Cymbidium is epiphytic, despite being
often/normally grown in 'soil' as a pot plant?

Which TERRESTRIAL species are grown by the 50,000? Cypripedium
I can believe, as I know that is sold commercially, but I can't
think of any other genera.

Yes, there are a few terrestrial species where the mycorrhizal
and soil problems have been solved (as in making them commercially
viable), but it can't be many. If it were, then we would be able
to restore the native terrestial orchid populations a LOT more
easily than by relying solely on natural regeneration!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
[...]
Yes, there are a few terrestrial species where the mycorrhizal
and soil problems have been solved (as in making them commercially
viable), but it can't be many. If it were, then we would be able
to restore the native terrestial orchid populations a LOT more
easily than by relying solely on natural regeneration!

Yes, this is fascinating. On the face of it, one might have thought
it not too difficult to identify appropriate mycorrhiza and soil
organisms and culture them. Have you got references to any good reads
on the subject?

I rescued some Early Purples from the Council's machinery once,
complete with soil-ball; but even in a carefully chosen spot even
these very common ones failed to thrive. Funny beasts.

Mike.

In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
[...]
Yes, there are a few terrestrial species where the mycorrhizal
and soil problems have been solved (as in making them commercially
viable), but it can't be many. If it were, then we would be able
to restore the native terrestial orchid populations a LOT more
easily than by relying solely on natural regeneration!

Yes, this is fascinating. On the face of it, one might have thought
it not too difficult to identify appropriate mycorrhiza and soil
organisms and culture them. Have you got references to any good reads
on the subject?

Regrettably not. I have seen many references over the years, but they
have all been of the form that express expert confusion. While this
IS a fascinating subject, it is not one that attracts a lot of
commercial research funding.

I rescued some Early Purples from the Council's machinery once,
complete with soil-ball; but even in a carefully chosen spot even
these very common ones failed to thrive. Funny beasts.

Yes, indeed. They only sometimes recolonise places they used to grow,
which was cultivated for a while and then let go back to downland.
As far as I know, it is very unclear why they sometimes do and sometimes
don't.

Let's ignore the usual remarks about the fact that what you did is
now a heinous crime.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.