Propagating bracteate bluebells

[Brian Ellis]

Has anyone any experience of increasing their bracteate bluebells?  Can they be chipped or should another method be used?

[mark smyth]

Are you watching me on facebook?  I asked the same. Don't divide the clumps is one answer. I might chop a bulb or two and see what happens.

My group that have bracts 20cm long are getting lots of likes and private requests

[Maggi Young]

How odd - I can't see the attraction myself. I just find them messy!
Different strokes, eh?

[mark smyth]

I think you'd need to see them in real life. Photos don'tshow them off. 

[Brian Ellis]

How odd - I can't see the attraction myself. I just find them messy!
Different strokes, eh?

I put it down to my perverseness Maggi, I waged war on bluebells in the garden as it was awash with them and they were Spanish crosses - not traditional English bluebells.  The front garden has been totally eradicated, a painstaking process involving double digging and sieving every morsel shortly after I was ill -  some days I literally only did a couple of spadefuls and it took me months but no sign of a bluebell for several years so worth the effort, and I managed to convince myself I wasn't ill   Both neighbours have them and they seed into the back garden so I have bluebell patrols daily and pounce on them there, but now I like the bracteates...as I said, perverse

...and no Mark, I have made my feelings about Facebook felt elsewhere, sorry

[Alan_b]

Somehow they remind me of the 1960's; long hair decorated with flowers.

[emma T]

My mum found a lovely bicolour and it was taken by blooms of blessingham to be propagated . Never came true by what ever method they were using to increase it quickly . I'm inclined to confine them in small pots so they make loads of small bulbs , then pot the small bulbs up into bigger pots .

[emma T]

[emma T]

This one has quite small bracts

[Brian Ellis]

I'm inclined to confine them in small pots so they make loads of small bulbs , then pot the small bulbs up into bigger pots .

Thanks for the suggestion Emma.

[mark smyth]

I've found keeping them in pots makes small plants. I'll show a photo later

[Mavers]

Have you got a bigger photo Emma it looks interesting.

[shelagh]

Christine Boulby showed a nice potful at Cleveland. I had never seen them before.

[ChrisB]

Here's mine, now starting to go over a bit.  Judges didn't like them at Cleveland..   They are in a good sized pot but have grown well in it.  I repot along with all my other pots of bulbs in August and usually find loads of bulbils so I've not yet thought it necessary to multiply them by chipping.  I find them quite interesting but then, I do like oddities......

[mark smyth]

Looking great Chris