Whilst riding the pony up the lane this week I spotted a fair sized number of white bluebells amongst the blue ones all within a few square yards of roadside verge.
l popped back up in the car later to photograph some of them. I then contacted the County Botanical Recorder for an opinion as I wondered if they were rare or a cross with the invasive Spanish bluebells. This was his reply, which he also included in his weekly blog with my photo:
Certainly interesting in that there are three white ones visible in a small area. They more normally occur at a rate of say one per ten square metres and are just a genetic variant of the English Bluebell. Spanish Bluebells hold their bells upward and the hybrid is in between and more robust. It is a curious aspect of academic botany that flower colour is often dismissed as a character – all the most comprehensive British Flora has to say about these variants is “rarely pink or white”.
Well, I certainly have never seen white blue bells before……
The verges are absolutely full of wild flowers at the moment and the hedgerows dripping with “May flowers” – hawthorn blossom. A beautiful time of the year ….
Illustrated Country Diary 
Interesting! I was just talking to my daughter who was wondering how our garden had managed to produce a white Spiderwort flower, this spring. We also have a pink Spanish Bluebell and one Dutch Iris that comes out white in a clump of purple ones….AND…. I have also seen the odd white one amongst the Virginia Bluebells that grow wild in a nearby State Park…..funny how so many blue flowers seem to mutate to pink or white occasionally!
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Don’t know “spiderwort” must look it up 🌺
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Its scientific name is Tradescantia, and I think it is a native plant to much of the US. I love that it opens and closes every day, has three pointed almost triangular flowers and blooms for a nice long time!
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More often a houseplant here. I have seen it outside but I don’t think would tolerate our conditions here . Thanks
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We had one pink bluebell among some blue on the edge of the garden this year and saw quite a few pink ones on a recent visit to Croft Castle.
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A gem of a little NT property- love it 🌺
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