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Old 04-12-2010, 07:29 PM
lannerman lannerman is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: May 2009
Location: Lanner. Cornwall.
Posts: 359
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheCountryGent View Post
Hello folks,i got these seeds the other day! Suttons: Wildlife Garden, A mixture for shaded and semi-shaded areas seeds

now the packet doesnt give too much away,it says it contains foxglove,Columbine(what type would that be?)Oxslip and Wood Sage plus other wild flowers... now what would they be? has anybody ever grown these seeds? or would like to hazard a guess to what the "other" wild flowers might be? The last time i got a mixed packet it was full of ox-eye daisy,they got everywhere !!!id like a nice mix though and its an economical way of doing, as i have a large area to cover,so if you have any knowledge of these or can recommend other mixes any information would be great,thanks guys!
Hi CountryGent, just a point of interest, to get the best out of any wild flower selection, having constructed many a 'wild flower' area professionally, ive found the most important thing is to have a relatively poor soil !! This might sound strange but the reason is as follows. If you just grow these in a 'normal' top soil, what you'll find is that the more vigourous species tend to dominate and block out the less vigourous things, also eventually any grass within the area will also eventually spoil the effect. So in practice to achieve this, this is what I do !!, almost remove all the top soil, leaving just a couple of inches in which to germinate the seeds. The other benefit of doing this is that it restricts the ammount of foliage they produce and will increase the ratio of flower to growth ?? I'm sure that in the wild, this is why you see these woodlandwild flowers doing so much better as often the soil in which they are growing, is neither the best or indeed very deep !! Hope this helps??
As too exactly what is included, thats anyones guess??
One final point with reference to foxgloves, we here in Cornwall are surounded by them in late spring, whilst they are technically short lived perennials, in practice most tend to be annuals so this is what I would suggest you do !! if for example you ended up with 20 flowering plants, immedeately after flowering remove 15 of the flower spikes before thet set seed, this will ensure that those 15 will go on to make bigger and better plants for next year. The remaining 5, leave to set and mature the seed in thier spikes to ensure a continuity for subsequent years but, having spent most of thier energy in producing this seed, most will actually die !! Personally, I would adopt the same strategy for most of those species you mentioned, to ensure good strong plants for the following year!!
best wishes, Lannerman