Enchanted Forest – English Bluebells

by

Alongside roses and lilies, blue flowers have enjoyed an admirable career. Almost everyone has heard of the blue flower of romanticism, which Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) made immortal. In the novel fragment of the same name, Heinrich von Ofterdingen sinks into despair at the sight of this blue flower, in which he sees the image of the daughter of the wizard Klingsohr, with whom he falls, as expected, hopelessly in love. Throughout the novel, he consumes himself with longing for her, as befits a romantic young man and minstrel. Unrequited longing has been the stuff of all romantic stories ever since.

Neben Rose und Lilie haben die blauen Blumen eine bewundernswerte Karriere hingelegt. Fast jeder hat von der blauen Blume der Romantik gehört, der Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) zu unsterblichen Ruhm verholfen hat. Heinrich von Ofterdingen versinkt im gleichnamigen Romanfragment im Anblick dieser blaue Blume, in der er das Bild der Tochter des Zauberers Klingsohr sieht, in die er sich, wie zu erwarten, heillos verliebt. Den ganzen Roman hindurch verzehrt er sich, wie es sich für einen romantischen Jüngling und Minnesänger gehört, sehnsüchtig nach ihr. Die unerlöste Sehnsucht, das ist der Stoff aller romantischen Geschichten seitdem.

Bluebells are picky. Disturb them too much and they simply don’t come back. True woodland divas — sensitive, elegant, and very, very English. We adore them.

Here in England is the home of bluebells, the wild blue hyacinths. They grow like a carpet in old forests and are loved by insects and fairies. These dense bluebell carpets might look like a field of thousands of flowers… and that’s exactly what it is. A single bluebell patch can have over 200 flowers per square metre. That’s more crowd than a festival. Siri and Selma warned us about these bluebell carpets because they are fairy traps. If you dare to walk through a bluebell carpet, the fairies might enchant you — or worse, make you vanish forever. So if you’ve ever lost your way in a wood, you know who to blame. And worse still, whoever makes the bluebells ring will soon die.

Hier in England ist die Heimat der Glockenblumen, der wilden, blauen Hyazinthen. Diese wachsen wie ein Teppich in alten Wäldern und werden von Insekten und Feen gleichermaßen geliebt. Ein dichter Glockenblumenteppich ist ein Feld von tausenden von Blumen. Dort wachsen mehr als 200 Blumen pro Quadratmeter.
Siri und Selma warnten uns vor diesen Glockenblumenteppichen in lichten Wäldern, weil diese von den Feen angelegt wurden, um Menschen zu fangen, die in ihren Anblick versunken wie in Trance sich verlaufen oder gar verschwinden. Und schlimmer noch, wer die Glockenblumen zum klingen bringt, wird bald sterben.

The scent of the bluebell is fleeting — best enjoyed in the early morning, before it’s whisked away by the breeze. A natural woodland air freshener!

The leaves of bluebells contain a slimy sap that was once used to glue feathers to arrows. Even Kb, a lover of books, did not know that in Elizabethan times, this sap was also used to bind books.
The juice of the flower bulbs was once used as laundry starch. However, today it is forbidden to dig up and trade their flower bulbs because bluebells are plants that take years to regenerate. For this reason, they should not be trampled on. The fairies also make sure of this.

Die Blätter der Glockenblumen beinhalten einen schleimigen Saft, mit dem früher die Federn an den Pfeilen befestigt wurden. Selbst Kb als Freund der Bücher wusste nicht, dass in Elisabethanischer Zeit dieser Saft auch zur Bindung von Büchern genutzt wurde.
Der Saft der Blumenzwiebeln wurde einst als Wäschestärke benutzt. Allerdings heute ist das Ausgraben und der Handeln mit ihren Blumenzwiebeln verboten, weil die Glockenblume ein Pflanze ist, die Jahre benötigt, um sich regenerieren. Deswegen sollten sie auch nicht niedergetrampelt werden. Darauf achten auch die Feen.

Once spring arrives, bluebells pop up fast to grab light before the trees leaf out. They’re part of a group called “spring ephemerals,” which sounds like a pop band but really means they’re blink-and-you’ll-miss-them beauties.

The humble and loyal bluebell


In symbolism, our clever Siri explained, they represent humility because of their bowed heads, and eternal love because blue is the colour of loyalty and because they are perennial plants that return year after year. English bluebells are incredibly loyal to their patch. Once settled, they rarely move — and some bluebell colonies are hundreds of years old, outlasting wars, kings, and countless soggy English summers.
Unfortunately, we have no luck with bellflowers in our garden, as wild deer are attracted by their sweet scent and eat them as their favourite food. So we enjoy them in the woods instead.

In der Symbolik, so erklärte unsere liebkluge Siri, stehen sie für Demut, wegen ihres gesenkten Kopfes, und für ewige Liebe, da Blau als Farbe der Treue gilt und weil sie als mehrjährige Pflanzen immer wiederkehren. Sie sind loyal zu ihrer Stelle, wo sie oft seit hunderten von Jahren wachsen und Könige, Kriege und sogar feuchten Englische Sommer überlebten.
Wir haben leider in unserem Garten kein Glück mit Glockenblumen, da wilde Rehe angezogen von ihrem süßen Duft sie als ihr Lieblingsessen verspeisen. Also erfreuen wir uns in den Wäldern an ihnen.

Not all bluebells are blue, nature’s little surprise party in the woods.
English bluebells sulk if you disturb them. If their bulbs are trampled or picked, they can take years to recover — and might never return.

With warm greetings from the cold sea
Mit lieben Grüßen von uns

The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂



© text and illustrations, Hanne Siebers & Klausbernd Vollmar, Cley next the Sea, 2025

144 thoughts

  1. Dear friends, your enchanted forest looks spectacular! Are the photos from Blickling? I remember visiting the woodlands by Aylsham some years ago with you , such a delightful stroll in the spring sunshine.
    The English Bluebell looks different to the small bluebell we have in Sweden. And guess what – Campanula rotundifolia, the small bluebell, is Sweden’s first national flower!
    Thank you for sharing your local beauties. I’m sure Hanne has captured lots and lots over the years, always a treat to see.
    I hope you are recovering well, Klausbernd.
    Enjoy your Sunday, my dear friends.
    Kram Annalena xx

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

    • Dear Annalena

      The pictures were taken on Blickling’s back, which is mega-romantic and not that far from the big pyramid there, the mausoleum.

      Kb is much better now. The heavy boot is gone, and he can walk quite normally, but walking longer than a quarter of an hour takes him a lot of energy. Every day his walking is getting better and better.

      We were in Stody with our friends today. The gardens were open. It was beautiful especially in the water garden.

      Wishing you a happy week.
      KRAM 🤗
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Fab Four of Cley,
    I like blue flowers. I would have to restrain from trying to take any though. I’d hate to interfere in their bed.
    Perhaps a cornflower would substitute?
    Have a great week,
    GP

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear GP

      The bluebells have something special. Well, cornflowers are beautiful too, but they don’t have this charm as the bluebells. And they don’t form these big carpets.

      Wishing you all the very best and thanks for commenting
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Hard to believe now, but when I was a child, my parents would take me bluebell picking in Epping Forest, in Essex. We would pick lots of bunches, and have a picnic while we were there. Sadly, I rarely see them in the woodland areas in Beetley, I think too many were once picked and trampled. Lovely photos and history.

    Love from Beetley, Pete. X

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Pete

      In former times, people just didn’t know that bluebells didn’t liked to be picked, that interfering with bluebells makes them vanish.

      In the woods around here, just a bit inland, you often see bluebells. Strange because we don’t live that far from you.

      Thanks for commenting.
      With lots of love from the sea
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I do love bluebells. The colour is such a pretty shade of blue.

    The last 2 photos in this post remind me of walking through the bluebells in the woods in Sussex in 1978.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Vicki

      We love the bluebells very much as well. Their shade of blue kind of sucks you in. Kandinsky called it the the centripetal power of blue.

      Thank you very much and all the best
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

  7. Ihr Lieben in Cley, was für ein eindrücklicher Beitrag zu den Glockenblumen, die ich in so grosser Zahl noch nicht angetroffen haben! Spannend finde ich auch die Geschichte von den Feen, die diese Blumenfelder absichtlich kreieren sollen, um die Menschen dort einzufangen! Wir haben diese Blumen schon seit Jahrzehnten auch im Garten, wahrscheinlich weil Rehe keinen Zugang haben.
    Tante grazie e cari saluti Martina

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Guten Abend, liebe Martina,

      Danke, dass dir unser Beitrag zu den Glockenblumen gefiel.
      Rehe scheinen immun gegen den Glockenblumenzauber zu sein. Ihr glücklichen Besitzer eines rehfreien Gartens – oder hat der Zauber doch bei euch gewirkt?

      Wir wünschen dir alles Gute
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

  11. What an amazing flower. Most I didn’t know–“200 flowers per square metre” “Disturb them too much and they don’t come back”. Then there is the slimy sap used as glue. That sends me down the rabbit hole. My Neanderthals lived in mainland Europe (but not the UK). They used natural ingredients (like bark) to create glue. I’ll have to see if bluebells grow on the Iberian Peninsula and whether they could be used as glue (maybe not for feathers on arrows, though). Love this.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  14. A wonderful post. Thank you, FabFour! Twenty years ago when we returned to NI we found “bluebells” growing in our little garden beneath some trees. They turned out to be the French variety and my dear wife has been trying ever since to remove them! We would need a JCB to get their bulbs out! 😠 There are some in flower just now and they appear to be smiling, reminding us that French Bluebells don’t bow their heads!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Ashley

      The French bluebells are quite different to the English ones. Unfortunately, you have to dig out the bulbs. And the French lack humility.

      Thanks for your comment.
      Wishing you a happy holiday
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Margaret

      We love the bluebells and are fascinated by their huge carpet in the woods.

      Thanks for commenting.
      Keep well, happy and healthy
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, dear Peter.
      Unfortunately, these carpets don’t last long. When the trees get all their leaves, that’s the end of it.

      Have a happy week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

  21. I love Bluebells, we have lots in our woods opposite too. Yte on one side the English ones and on the other side the Spanish bluebells. Your picture of the forest path is just divine. Thanks for the info about them too, didn’t know all that. I got some in the garden and also some white Spanish ones.

    Have a lovely May ♥

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Ute

      Thank you very much.
      You are blessed with all these bluebells. We have never seen the white Spanish ones in nature.

      Enjoy this holiday
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  26. Was für ein wunderschöner Anblick!

    In Belgien gibt es diese wohl auch in einigen Wäldern, las ich letzte Woche in einem Blog.

    Wirklich feenhaft schön!

    Ich hoffe, dir geht es nun wieder besser Klaubend?!

    Machst du schon erste Belastungschritte?

    Mal wieder superschöne Bilder, liebe Dina – verträumt, wie Feen es lieben!

    Liebe Grüße,

    Syntaxia

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Danke, liebe Syntaxia,

      wir sind sicher, dass es Bluebells in Belgien gibt.
      Schön, dass dir Hanne-Dinas Bilder gefallen.

      Kb geht es sehr viel besser. Der orthopädische Stiefel ist Vergangenheit, und er kann mehr oder weniger normal gehen. Allerdings ist das Gehen längerer Strecken noch sehr anstrengend. Aber auch das wird sich geben, da sind wir uns sicher. Danke für deine Nachfrage.

      Mit ganz lieben Grüßen ❤ ❤ vom heute windigen Meer
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

  27. Gorgeous photos! Several years ago I lived near a botanic garden that had beautiful bluebells growing amongst the trees; very similar to your photos. Definitely one of the many Spring highlights.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  28. Whenever I see your post come into my reader I know that I will be whisked away to a magical place. Hanne – your photography is superb. There is faerie dust that comes through my screen and I feel a sense of adventure.

    Bluebells are such gentle flowers that speak of spring, of beginnings, of tranquil moments shared in sunshine. When I was young I was certain that I found faerie circles. They are real!!! I did not know the Bluebell connection to book bindings. Many thanks for the magic that comes to me whenever we meet. Sending much love and many hugs to our dear friends, The Fab Four of Cley.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Good morning, dear Rebecca

      Thank you very much for your kind words 🙏 🙏
      The bluebell magic is great, isn’t it? We spent several days photographing these bluebells. It’s always a problem to have the right light. Quite often it was too sunny. It lets the blue fade and takes the magic away. Hanne-Dina likes medium overcast.

      We send you lots of ❤ ❤ love and fairy dust 💫🌟✨🌟💫
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
      xxxx

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you very much.

      Kb is much better. The orthopaedic boot is off. He can walk quite normally but only for shorter distances. That gets better every day with the help of physiotherapy.

      All the best
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

  32. The blue mist effect in the photos is magical! There are a lot of Spanish bluebells in my garden. They are weeds, really, but impossible to remove, so I make sure to pull up all the flower stalks as the flowers fade, to prevent seeding. I don’t think the true English bluebells were established here in Victoria, British Columbia, even though many of the early colonists were from Britain. Maybe the bluebells didn’t want to leave their homeland.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Audrey

      You are right. The real British bluebells don’t want to go abroad. They love to stay at home. They are just British and conservative, you know.

      The British bluebells vanish when being disturbed. They don’t like to be trampled down or picked.

      Thank you for commenting.
      Keep well and happy
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Derrick

      These carpets of bluebells in the woods are British like British can be. A fairy world like that of Carroll and Tolkien.

      Thanks and keep well
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  38. These are stunning! I’ve never seen a bluebell, so I was most interested in learning about them. I can only imagine how gorgeous they must be in real life — because your photos make me want to see them! The individual flowers are lovely, but a whole forest of them must be eye-popping! Thanks for sharing the beauty.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Dear Debbie

      A big carpet of bluebells in the woods is magic. Even for us, although we have them in many woods at this time of the year.

      All the best, and thanks for commenting
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you very much, dear Joan 🙏 🙏, for your kind words and liking Hanne-Dina’s photos.

      All the very best for you xx
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

    • Thank you very much for your kind words.

      It took Dina days to have the right natural light for photographing these bluebell carpets.

      Keep well
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

  45. Ah, I understand about the deer eating them. I have no luck with growing fruit because the loerie birds eat it all. I love the loeries so I’ve had to accept that I grow fruit for them to eat – smile. I do love English bluebells which I’ve only seen once in ‘real life’.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Dear Steve

      We had to google it. The colour is similar but the shape is different. The Texas bluebonnets don’t have this bell-shape.

      Thanks and cheers
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

    • You’re correct. I didn’t mean to imply a botanical similarity (other than color), only that springtime bluebonnet displays in Texas are as well known as those of the bluebells in England.

      Texas does have a native bell-shaped wildflower called the bluebell. Though in a different botanical family from the one in England, it can also form large colonies.

      Liked by 1 person

  50. Ein toller Beitrag. Vielen Dank 🙂

    Ich könnte gut so jemand sein, der beim Anblick der blauen Teppiche verschwindet.

    Nicht, dass es jetzt schon sein müsste, aber wenn bei diesem betörenden Anblick dann die eine oder andere von ihnen zu läuten anfinge und man so sanft hinüberglitte, so kann ich mir durchaus Schlimmeres vorstellen 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Liebe Belana Hermine
      da hast du wohl recht. Das ist ein schöner sanfter Feentod, viel besser als im Krankenhaus herum zu liegen und dem Tod entgegen zu leiden.
      Eine angenehme Woche wünschen wir dir
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

  51. You’ve got some wonderful photos of bluebells. The last two almost look like scenes from a fairytale.I hadn’t heard the story about fairy traps, you learn something new all the time 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you very much for liking Dina’s photography. Great that you learned something new. We always learn something new too when writing the posts.
      Have a happy week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

    • Thank you very much.
      At the end of these enchanted woods is Blickling Hall, a Jacobean House from the early 17th century – and haunted, of course. It has an important library, and this library is said to be haunted.
      Have a happy week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  53. Diese blauen Blumen sind wirklich ein faszinierender Anblick – sie scheinen fast magisch, wie sie zwischen den Schatten des Waldes leuchten. Ich finde, die Bilder fangen perfekt die geheimnisvolle Schönheit und das tiefe Gefühl der Sehnsucht ein, das die blaue Blume seit Jahrhunderten symbolisiert. Es ist eine Freude, solche Naturwunder zu betrachten und sich von ihrer stillen Poesie inspirieren zu lassen.

    Dankeschön für diesen tollen Beitrag!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  57. I’ve been lucky enough to see them in England and Scotland & think the fairies must have touched me as I found them enchanting. You’ve got so many pretty pictures of them. Bernie

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Good morning, dear Bernie

      We are enchanted, too. Unfortunately, they are faded now, at least here on our coast.

      Thanks for commenting
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  59. too bad the deer eat all the ones that you try to plant and I learned so much in this post about these awesome blue beauties – esp fun to learn the sap could bind books and the leaves of bluebells contain a slimy sap that was once used to glue feathers to arrows – wow

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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