Virginia Bluebells

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I hoping for at least five “keeper” images of spring wildflowers for a possible future note card set. So far, it’s been slow to happen, first with the early warmth the first of March followed by the rapid return to winter in April.

These Virginia Bluebells are tamed wildflowers; we transplanted them from their original hillside home over on Walnut Knob. And wish we’d brought a dozen more, if only for this one week in spring when the magenta and cyan buds become pale blue and pink bell-shaped blossoms before being eaten by the deer.

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fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  1. i’ve seen them…but not a close-up like this. i love all the different shades of blue, purple, and pink…the colors reminds me of my favorite type of hydrangea.

    it has been a bad spring for flowers….they started coming up early here because of the warm late winter- and then most died because of the 3 weeks of freezing weather we got later.

  2. I live in Avon, NY My Mother planted 1 plant several years ago behind the family house in the garden there. Now the entire garden and encroaching into the lawn are Virginia Bluebells. Oh they are pretty, but they in our case have become a hard thing to get rid of. Outside the garden I have mowed them and used weed killer on them but in days they are coming back again, I have gone in with a cutting tool that would destroy the bulb and roots but that is useless also. If I could keep them contained I would keep them!