Jane's Pocket Change: Remembering Bluebells

One great sign of early spring in the wooded areas close to where I grew up in England is the blue carpet created by Wild Bluebells. I believe these flowers are found in parts of the United States but I have never seen the gentle carpet of azure that I recall from my childhood.
One great sign of early spring in the wooded areas close to where I grew up in England is the blue carpet created by Wild Bluebells. I believe these flowers are found in parts of the United States but I have never seen the gentle carpet of azure that I recall from my childhood.

Apparently Nearly 50% of the world’s Bluebell flowers can be found in the U.K. I read more about the Bluebell this past weekend after my sister published a photograph of the flowers from the Malvern Hills, a beautiful spot not far from my childhood home. Most of these facts are taken from the website of the Blickling Estate, a national trust property in the east of England:

"The bluebell is a member of the lily family and has a clever way of surviving under the dense shade of woodland. The green leaves emerge early in the year, well before the leaves of the trees open. This means that the bluebell does most of its growing with plenty of light and so replenishes the nutrients stored in its bulb.

The flowering bit is really the end of the cycle and the leaves die away until the following year. Because bluebells spread very slowly they're considered to be an indicator of ancient woodland sites. Even if the trees are not very old, the fact there are bluebells around can indicate that there has been a wood on a site for a very long time. Even if there are no trees there at all, bluebells tell us that there was woodland there some time in the past."

It's easy to feel the ancient nature of these flowers: for some reason when you see them you can imagine that they have existed for hundreds of years. When I saw the picture my sister had posted, I thought of those brilliant moments when I first would see the Bluebells. I thought of my childhood, and I thought of spring. Welcome to this lovely season.

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Pocket Change is a web diary written by Jane Moulding, head of school.

The Cambridge School of Weston is a progressive high school for day and boarding students in grades 9–12 and PG. CSW's mission is to provide a progressive education that emphasizes deep learning, meaningful relationships, and a dynamic program that inspires students to discover who they are and what their contribution is to their school, their community and the world.