April 20, 2008 - Virginia Bluebells

Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

If you pass by a wooded floodplain this time of year you might be surprised to see a wash of blue color along the stream bank. That blue is from the aptly named Virginia bluebell. These wildflowers grow in dense patches with each flower head containing clusters of blossoms. Every individual flower is tubular in shape, flaring at the open end and hanging down much like a bell. The pale blue of the flowers is eye-catching. A closer look at a patch of bluebells shows an interesting pattern. Although the open flowers are blue, flower buds are pink with a faint tinge of purple. Once in a while mature flowers remain pink or sometimes white in color. Virginia bluebells bloom for about three weeks each spring before their soothing pastel colors fade from the landscape.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.