The Wild Garden
General view of the Wild Garden with Apple Blossom (newly planted) and Cow Parsley 
Bluebells
Native Blubells
Spanish Bluebells
Britain has nearly half the world’s population of native Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta). However almost all the bluebells in the city are now the Spanish variety (Hyacinthoides hispanica). Spanish bluebells were brought in as a garden plant. A bee visiting one and then the other, maybe 2 miles away, can cross-pollinate and the seeds may be a hybrid of the two.
This City Parks project should enable us to observe this process and see to what extent it is possible to reverse the threat to our native species
Native bluebells differ from the Spanish in being scented and having deeper blue, longer bells on a drooping stalk (See Photos above)