On Sat, 25 Jun 2011 22:30:46 +0000, kay wrote:
iliveinazoo;927920 Wrote:
Hello Everybody,
Is there a list of common UK Native garden plants around?
I'll soon be moving into a new house with a half decent sized garden
and I'd like to landscape it with species native to the UK but I've
really got no idea where to start, I'll be needing short trees or
shrubs less than 3 metres tall and flowering plants. Preferably I'd
like the garden to flower throughout the year without having to plant
annuals year after year.
Any ideas or links for inspiration would be great.
Cheers
A Google search for suppliers of wild flower seeds should cover the
flower bits for you. And mixed hedges of UK native species are
frequently specified by Council Planning Offices, so another search
should get hold of a list of these. Most of the hedge species will be
short trees and shrubs.
If you can't find anything else, get hold of a flora - I recommend one
of those by Fitter et al - and flick through for the more showy species.
There are many perennial species worth a place in the garden - field,
bloody, wood cranesbills; primrose, oxlip, cowslip, foxglove, melancholy
thistle (which isn't prickly at all), scabious, bluebell, ramsons, lily
of the valley, snakeshead fritillary, wild daffodil, red and white
campion, ragged robin, purple and yellow loosetrife,, marsh marigold -
that's without really thinking.
For smaller border edging and around hedgerows I'd add Speedwell.
Teasels in the back because they are really pretty, insects love them in
flower and birds love the seed heads.
Ohh and Corncockle, let the Buttercups in too, Poppies, Stonecrops, Wood
Avens (probably difficult to avoid getting this), Dog Rose, Creeping
Cinquefoil, Bush Vetch (or any of the scrambling ones), Sweet Violet,
Evening Primrose, Scarlet pimpernel, Lesser Periwinkle, Borage or one of
the Comfreys, Forget-me-not, Wild Thyme, Woody Nightshade (yes, that ones
poisonous), Great Mullein, Ivy-Leaved Toadflax, Valerian, Harebell, Corn
Marigold, Feverfew, Star of Bethlehem, Snowdrops, Lords and Ladies, Green
Winged Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid, Pendulous Sedge, Cotton Grass,
Tufted Hair-Grass, Hart's Tongue.
You should be able to grow a lot of those, but it all really depends on
your soil type and how you are going to manage the conditions.
I do a lot of conservation volunteering and creating conditions to
encourage the natives can be slow work. The learning curve is not too
steep until you get into species identification and then trying to learn
of of the species of insect, plant, amphibian, mammal that you encounter.
I spent an hour with a field lens, a botanist and an identification guide
book getting a lesson in telling the difference between species of
dandelions last Tuesday. The field guide was pretty tough going as it
wasn't illustrated in any way at all!
If you want to get a *really* good field guide, I have been advised to
get a copy of Francis Rose[1], Wild Flower Key (2006 revision)
The Wild Flower Key Revised Edition - How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland: Amazon.co.uk: Francis Rose, Clare O'Reilly (Author updated edition): Books
This one is illustrated.
Good Luck
Warwick