Virginia bluebells are among the easiest spring ephemerals to get established in a backyard shade garden, and are very popular as an early spring food source for our native bees and butterflies. Hummingbirds have also been known to visit them on occasion, especially if they are still up during their migration.
The Importance of Spring Ephemerals
You are unlikely to find any spring ephemerals on any keystone species lists, yet they’re incredibly vital to a healthy, biodiverse habitat. Any native plants that provide an early food source for our native insect species should be considered essential to habitat.
Another way that spring ephemerals benefit ecosystems is as a nutrient dam. Without early spring plants, melting snow and rainwater runoff would leech nutrients out of the soil and contribute to erosion. Spring ephemerals are able to take up these nutrients and utilize them prior to dying back as other plants begin to emerge. As they go dormant, the nutrients captured by spring ephemerals are returned to the soil to be taken up by their successors. This is known as the vernal dam hypothesis.
Losses Due To Lesser Celandine
Virginia bluebells especially are known to grow in bottomlands and floodplains, especially in the northern parts of their range. These are the same locations where one might find masses of lesser celandine (Ficaria verna), an invasive spring ephemeral. Their habitat has been largely destroyed by this invasive species in our local area. You may be able to find a few patches here and there, but they’ve been largely replaced by this invasive.
The problem of course is that the way lesser celandine spreads depends on these spring water runoffs, which help to carry off any bulblets that are above-ground and dislodged. They are allelopathic, preventing native seedlings that are not adapted to the chemicals they produce to germinate and become established. They also emerge early enough to shade out the forest floor, which also prevents germination of seeds. Thus any land that has had even a few years of lesser celandine established lays barren for much of the remainder of the year. This allows for further erosion, loss of nutrients, and lack of needed biodiversity.
Interplant Other Native Plants That Emerge As Bluebells Die Back
As a spring ephemeral, Virginia bluebells begin to die back soon after flowering. There is a sort of ugly transition as this is happening as they turn yellow and flop over. I highly recommend interplanting it with other native species – pretty much on top of one another – to begin filling in pretty much as soon as the bluebells die back. Some of the plants I’ve used include goldenseal and yellow mandarin. You can also try native brambles such as black raspberries or purple flowering raspberries.
Another option is if you have an established fern patch, such as hay-scented fern, New York fern, maidenhair ferns, and others. By the time the fern fronds are opening up, the blue bells will be done. The fronds will also help to cover up the dying yellow leaves. You’ll then be able to go in and collect seed to grow more bluebells for yourself.
Ethnobotanical Use
Virginia bluebells were utilized by many indigenous tribes. Some, like the Cherokee, used these to treat pulmonary diseases such as upper respiratory illness, tuberculosis and whooping cough. Others utilized an infusion from the root system for venereal disease and to combat poisons.
As a member of the Borage family, the entire plant is edible, including the flowers. Feel free to include this in your native food forest. As always, make sure you properly identify any plants before foraging/consuming. By growing your own, you know exactly what you have, and reduce pressures on collecting from the wild.
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