The lavender ones are much favoured by Swallowtail butterflies, which then lay their eggs on nearby fennel. I will check and see if the butterflies also like the pale flowers. > Dames' Rocket, Hesperis matronalis, is starting. I try to keep the >white, it keeps sporting back to lavender and I keep pulling out the >lavenders. > >Ken, western Oregon Z7 > A couple of good things about bluebells: 1. Childhood memories: They were the first flowers all the neighbourhood kids used to pick, in a nearby wooded area, next to the field with a horse in it. ( apartment buildings replaced the horse about fifty years ago, alas.) I try to keep them under control in my garden, and never let them set seed, but I still like them for picking as they will fill in a bouquet when I only want to sacrifice one or two tulips. 2. Deer like to browse the copious juicy green leaves, so if they fill up on bluebells, they will surely have less room for trilliums and tulips. -- Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada maritime zone 8 cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually) sandy soil