English Heritage have launched a campaign to help preserve at risk domestic, heritage, varieties of daffodils and blue bells. You can pick up a free bulb at English Heritage sites across the country. Great for bees too!

Details:

English Heritage is launching a campaign to help save the native and historic varieties of daffodils and bluebells, both of which are at risk from aggressive hybrids and non-traditional varieties.

All this week, English Heritage gardeners will plant a record 25,000 native and heritage bulbs across the historic gardens in its care, including at Osborne - Queen Victoria's home - on the Isle of Wight, Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, and Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens in Northumberland.

The charity is also calling on the public to join its campaign by collecting a free native daffodil or bluebell bulb from a selection of English Heritage sites to bring home and plant in their own garden.

‘A VITAL PART OF OUR HERITAGE’

John Watkins, Head of Gardens and Landscapes at English Heritage, said: "Native daffodils and bluebells as well as the historic cultivated varieties are a vital part of our horticultural and cultural heritage, inspiring gardeners and poets alike.

"Our native species and historic cultivars are increasingly under threat from cross pollination with non-native species and hybrids that flower at the same time.

"Our major spring bulb planting campaign - across some of the most important historic gardens in England - will help arrest that national decline and ensure that the daffodil celebrated by Wordsworth over 200 years ago can still be enjoyed by visitors today and in the future."

RECORD NUMBER OF BULBS BEING PLANTED

The English Heritage gardens team and our garden volunteers will be planting 25,000 native and historically cultivated daffodils and bluebells - the largest number in the charity's history - at the following sites in its care:

Audley End House and Gardens in Essex

Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens in Northumberland

Brodsworth Hall and Gardens in South Yorkshire

The Home of Charles Darwin, Down House in Kent

Eltham Palace and Gardens in London

Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden in Warwickshire

Kenwood in London

Osborne on the Isle of Wight

Walmer Castle and Gardens in Kent

Witley Court and Gardens in Worcestershire

Wrest Park in Bedfordshire

Visitors to these sites will be able to collect a free bulb, courtesy of De Jager, to bring home and plant in their own garden.