Virginia Bluebells

Growing Virginia Bluebells

A true spring ephemeral that goes dormant after blooming, so interplant with ferns or sedges to fill the gap. Naturalizes into breathtaking colonies in moist woods.

Where it belongs

Virginia bluebells grow in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Midwest, in moist deciduous woods, on floodplains, and along river bottoms. Where they are happy they carpet acres, and a bottomland woods in full bloom is one of the sights of the eastern spring.

They are a true spring ephemeral, and that term carries a specific meaning worth understanding before you plant. The species completes its entire above-ground year in about ten weeks, using the window between snowmelt and the moment the tree canopy closes over. Then it dies back completely and waits underground for ten months.

Growing it

Part sun to shade, medium to wet soil, rich in leaf litter, in loam, zones 3 to 8. One to two feet in bloom.

Moist woodland soil is the requirement. They tolerate spring flooding, which is where they grow naturally, and they suffer in dry shade.

Plant bare-root in fall, three inches deep. Potted plants are usually sold in bloom in spring, which is fine, though they will be entering dormancy within weeks of purchase.

The dormancy has to be planned around. By late June there is nothing there, and if you have not planted something else in that space you have a bare patch for the rest of the summer. Interplant with Christmas fern, Pennsylvania sedge, wild geranium, or hosta, all of which expand to fill the gap. Mark the location so you do not dig into the roots in August.

They naturalize by seed over years into large colonies. Patience is the whole technique.

What it feeds

The flower is a narrow tube, and reaching the nectar takes a long tongue. Bumblebee queens are the primary pollinators, and this is important forage at exactly the moment those queens are alone, founding colonies, and burning energy with no workers to help.

Early hummingbirds visit. Bee flies hover at the flowers. Several mining bee specialists collect from it. Short-tongued bees sometimes cut into the base of the tube to rob nectar without pollinating.

Living with it

Deer generally avoid it.

Do not tidy the yellowing foliage. The plant is moving its year's energy back into the root while those leaves fade, and cutting them early weakens next spring.

Leaf litter is the correct mulch. Rake it onto the bed in fall and leave it.

Sources: USDA PLANTS Database (native range); Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas at Austin (species profile and ephemeral life cycle); Xerces Society (spring bumblebee queen forage).

It’s deer-resistant, and showy.

Where it grows

Virginia Bluebells is native to the Northeast. In the wild you’ll find it across Alabama · Arkansas · Connecticut · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kentucky and 24 more states. Always confirm it suits your specific county with your state native plant society before planting.

Regional Garden has written state guides covering Virginia Bluebells in 34 of them so far.

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