The Bluebell Diaries: Bewitched by Bluebells

Growing up in the foothills of Havelock North has left me with indelible memories of the magic of springtime. The alluring scent of the early prunus blossom trees called to me, as I made my way down past St Luke's Church & in to the village after school. I would always stop & pick a small sprig of pink frothy blossom & admire it until it wilted. The memory of the very first whiff of jasmine, daphne, grape hyacinths, freesias & jonquils come late winter/ early spring, has remained with me through the decades & befriends me just as surely now, as way back then.

The arrival of the spring bulbs was always a delight to me & I learnt many of their names while still at primary school. I adored the riot of colour in the spraxia display & was endlessly fascinated by the strange, slim green flower & name of the ixias. The scent of hyacinths would send me in to raptures & I would sniff the little sprigs of wintersweet so long & so hard they almost disappeared up my nose. Funny thing is, I don't ever recall seeing a bluebell.

For the first four decades of my life I had no idea that Bluebell Woods in England had been enchanting walkers, wanderers & lovers for centuries.

Then...one day I found this old picture & so began my love affair with bluebells.

I will never plant enough of them or see enough of them in my lifetime.

To walk in woods carpeted with fragrant blue magic is a my unwavering aspiration.

To be immersed in blue as far as the eye can see...

leads me to romantic notions of pausing in the midst of such splendour; to drink in the beauty & fragrance of such a miracle. Seeing this scene in the movie Bright Star utterly overwhelmed my senses for days.

I do not know of any place in New Zealand where the woods or wild places are awash with blue carpets in spring, but I do know where an oak grove grows...out in the foothills in Havelock North near Keirunga Gardens. One autumn, not so long ago we discovered precociously blossoming trees,