19 APRIL 1946, Page 16

COUNTRY LIFE

EASTER should prove to coincide with the peak of bluebell time, when the half-open woods are at their loveliest and indeed some other un- expected sites. The hyacinth that we know as a bluebell. is associated with woodland, and to find carpets of it between heather patches on a- Welsh island at first astonished me. The truth is that the flower is so lusty that it Will grow ahnost anywhere. It is found chiefly in woods,partly because it has been grUbbed up elsewhere by ploughs, pigs, persons and such disturbing agencies, partly because of its preference for leaf-mould. It flowers very . much earlier in the open ; and it is posSible that -the delaying shade is the subsidiary- cause of its flourishing. Even the anemone, with theconstant epithet "wood," will flower freely in the open, but on a shorter stem. Those who fail to reach the country at Easter have the chance to see bluebells in wild glory near the Queen's Cottage at Kew Gardens, which have many country attributes. For example, if

I wanted to hear the blackbird's fluting at its best I should go to Kew.