Virginia bluebells

Overview

One of the most enchanting spring wildflowers, Virginia bluebells carpet woodland floors with cascading clusters of bell-shaped flowers that open pink and turn vivid sky blue. This native ephemeral completes its entire life cycle in spring, disappearing underground by summer — pair it with ferns and hostas that fill the gap. Entire hillsides of bluebells in bloom is one of nature's most breathtaking spring spectacles.

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are spring ephemeral plants in the Boraginaceae family. They have rounded, gray-green leaves up to 5 inches long on stems that can grow up to 24 inches tall. The inflorescence is a nodding group of bell-shaped flowers at the end of the arched stems. The flowers are usually light blue but can occasionally be pink or white.

M. virginica is native in the United States from Kansas in the west, to Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia in the south, and to Maine in the northeast. It is also native in Canada in Ontario and Quebec. The plant can be found in rich, moist woods and on low, wooded hillsides, often forming large groups.

Ecological Significance

The flowers attract various pollinators including long-tongued bees, butterflies, moths, skippers, hummingbird moths, flower flies, bee flies, and hummingbirds. Each fertilized flower produces four seeds within wrinkled nuts in early summer. The plant then goes dormant until the next spring.

In traditional Native American medicine, Virginia bluebells had several uses including as a pulmonary aid, tuberculosis treatment, whooping cough treatment, poison antidote, and venereal issue treatment. The flowers and roots of M. virginica are edible. In cultivation, it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Mertensia virginica is the type species for the genus Mertensia and was first described by Linnaeus in 1753 as Pulmonaria virginica. The genus Pulmonaria is restricted to 19 species in the tribe Boragineae while Mertensia includes this species.

Growing Conditions

Habitat & Range

Habitat

Meadows & Open Areas

Native Range

Native to Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois and 17 more US states; native to Ontario, Quebec in Canada; also native to District of Columbia, Indiana, Kentucky and 3 more regions

Native Region

North America

Cultivation Region

Temperate regions

Botanical data via projectGAIA.

Companion Planting & Soil

Sowing & Propagation

Planting Calendar

When to sow, transplant, and harvest by growing zone.

Uses

Related Plants

Jack-in-the-pulpit garden

Wild ginger garden

Anemone garden

Begonia garden

Daffodil garden

Hepatica garden