I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

kate

On 13/1/07 10:17, in article , "Kate
Morgan" wrote:

I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

kate

I wouldn't like to offer advice as such but I do know you can buy lawn seed
mixed with wild flower seed which might be easier to handle?
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

In article , says...
I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

kate

It depends how much control you want over the final look, and how much
time you want to give it to achieve the 'meadow look'

Gill M

"Gill Matthews" Try the wrote in message
T...
In article ,
says...
I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds
or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

kate

It depends how much control you want over the final look, and how much
time you want to give it to achieve the 'meadow look'

Yes: it does take more work than is always realised. My experience was
that, even with the deliberately impoverished soil you need, the grasses
gradually took over. I'd go for seed rather than plugs, because you need
so many plants: most of my wild flowers were started off in seed trays,
just as for any other flowers.

One needs to be aware of some of the dangers, too. I'm very fond of
orange hawkweed, for example, and included it in my patch; but it soon
spread to the "civilised" areas of the garden, and caused deep mourning.

--
Mike.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Kate Morgan writes
I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

Arguments for seeds:

Plugs are more expensive - possibly prohibitive for a large area
Seeds are can be more fun, and give greater sense of pride
Seeds may be easier to source

Arguments for plugs

Plugs transfer the risks of non-germination or damping off from you to
the nurseryman.
If you are trying to plant into grass, plugs give a greater chance of
success (still better to strip the grass and start from scratch)
Emerging seedlings are susceptible to slugs (but of course you can grow
your own plugs from seed)


--
Kay

Kate Morgan wrote:
I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

kate

I did that a couple of years ago with a strip of south facing garden.
Ibought two different packets of 'wild flower' seeds, I think from B & Q.
mixed them up, and sprinkled onto the raked soil. Lightly covered with a
fine compost and let nature do it's thing. It provided a wonderful display.

--
ßôyþëtë

"K" wrote in message
...
Kate Morgan writes
I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

Arguments for seeds:
Plugs are more expensive - possibly prohibitive for a large area
Seeds are can be more fun, and give greater sense of pride
Seeds may be easier to source

Arguments for plugs
Plugs transfer the risks of non-germination or damping off from you to the
nurseryman.
If you are trying to plant into grass, plugs give a greater chance of
success (still better to strip the grass and start from scratch)
Emerging seedlings are susceptible to slugs (but of course you can grow
your own plugs from seed)
Kay

Maybe a combination of both :~))

I have a couple of packets of wildflower seed bought a couple of years ago
in Canada.....I wonder if they are still viable?
Jenny

One needs to be aware of some of the dangers, too. I'm very fond of
orange hawkweed, for example, and included it in my patch; but it soon
spread to the "civilised" areas of the garden, and caused deep mourning.

--
Mike.
LOL, I did this once with Teasels, I was not very popular :-)

kate

Kate Morgan wrote:
I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

kate
Thank you all for your input and suggestions, I think that I will go
with seed, plug plants are expensive compared to a packet of seeds :-)
kate

Kate Morgan wrote:

Kate Morgan wrote:
I would like to turn one corner of the garden and possibly down the
drive into a wildflower patch and cannot decide which to use, seeds or
plugs, any advice or thoughts appreciated

kate
Thank you all for your input and suggestions, I think that I will go
with seed, plug plants are expensive compared to a packet of seeds :-)
kate

I presume you intend native wildflowers?

In which case, try to check the source of the seed. Some packs of
'native' wildflower seeds actually originate from outside the UK. These
seeds, while the same species as the UK natives are often genetically
distinct. Using such seeds risks diluting the true, distinct UK native
gene pool. Not at all clear what the long term consequences could be but
generally genetic diversity is a good thing and diluting distinct
genetic populations is probably a bad thing.

For example, the UK varieties are probably prefered by UK insects and
more resistant to UK pests and diseases.
--
Larry Stoter

Larry Stoter wrote:
In which case, try to check the source of the seed. Some packs of
'native' wildflower seeds actually originate from outside the UK.

Best value I ever bought was some packs of "wildflower" seeds from
Buckfast Abbey gift shop in Devon. About 4 oz of mixed seeds for
£1.99. I had trouble identifying some of the things that came up, but
cornflower and yellow rattle dominated one packet.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions, I think that I will go
with seed, plug plants are expensive compared to a packet of seeds :-)
kate

I presume you intend native wildflowers?

In which case, try to check the source of the seed. Some packs of
'native' wildflower seeds actually originate from outside the UK. These
seeds, while the same species as the UK natives are often genetically
distinct. Using such seeds risks diluting the true, distinct UK native
gene pool. Not at all clear what the long term consequences could be but
generally genetic diversity is a good thing and diluting distinct
genetic populations is probably a bad thing.

For example, the UK varieties are probably prefered by UK insects and
more resistant to UK pests and diseases.

Yes indeed I do intend going for natives and thank you for that advice
and information.

kate

"Larry Stoter" wrote in message
[...]
I presume you intend native wildflowers?

In which case, try to check the source of the seed. Some packs of
'native' wildflower seeds actually originate from outside the UK.
These
seeds, while the same species as the UK natives are often genetically
distinct. Using such seeds risks diluting the true, distinct UK native
gene pool. Not at all clear what the long term consequences could be
but
generally genetic diversity is a good thing and diluting distinct
genetic populations is probably a bad thing.

For example, the UK varieties are probably prefered by UK insects and
more resistant to UK pests and diseases.

Good point. I can't remember the details, but there was an interesting
case with, I think, primroses. IIRC, a particular strain in the northern
Hebrides flowered at a very slightly different time, which provided
invertebrates exactly when they were wanted during the local birds'
breeding timetable. An introduced, but still British, strain was a
couple of weeks wrong, and the effect was measurable. That's extreme, of
course: I don't think many mainland ecosystems are anything like that
delicate -- I wouldn't worry much about, say, "average" English seed in
an "average" Scottish garden.

--
Mike.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Kate Morgan" wrote
[Mike L]:
One needs to be aware of some of the dangers, too. I'm very fond of
orange hawkweed, for example, and included it in my patch; but it
soon
spread to the "civilised" areas of the garden, and caused deep
mourning.

LOL, I did this once with Teasels, I was not very popular :-)

Ditto with Restharrow in my wild area. It's pretty and the bees love it,
but by george it does spread once it gets going!

--
Sue

On 13/1/07 16:16, in article , "Kate
Morgan" wrote:


One needs to be aware of some of the dangers, too. I'm very fond of
orange hawkweed, for example, and included it in my patch; but it soon
spread to the "civilised" areas of the garden, and caused deep mourning.

--
Mike.
LOL, I did this once with Teasels, I was not very popular :-)


I bet you were with the gold finches! We get them drifting into our garden
from the hedgerows and always leave just one or two for the birds.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/