lloyd writes

That's what I was thinking, and of course the lovely smiley flowers.

I think you have to be quite careful. The "dykes, ditches and plots of
apparent wasteland" might be wildlife refuges amongst the arable land.
before introducing anything, you should familiarise yourself with what
is already there (plant and animal), perhaps through your local wildlife
trust.

I know this isn't your situation, but just as a thought: orchids seem to
thrive in abandoned industrial sites, with large multi-species
populations on an alkali waste dump in Lancashire and in various
abandoned quarries and lime kilns in the Yorkshire Dales. One of the
greatest threats to this sort of site has been well-meaning agreements
in the planning permission that the site should be landscaped once the
quarrying has finished.
--
Kay

On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 11:19:33 +0000, K wrote:

lloyd writes

That's what I was thinking, and of course the lovely smiley flowers.

I think you have to be quite careful. The "dykes, ditches and plots of
apparent wasteland" might be wildlife refuges amongst the arable land.
before introducing anything, you should familiarise yourself with what
is already there (plant and animal), perhaps through your local wildlife
trust.

Yes I shall do that. I think we have a Nature guy fairly local I saw
in the shop window.

I know this isn't your situation, but just as a thought: orchids seem to
thrive in abandoned industrial sites, with large multi-species
populations on an alkali waste dump in Lancashire and in various
abandoned quarries and lime kilns in the Yorkshire Dales. One of the
greatest threats to this sort of site has been well-meaning agreements
in the planning permission that the site should be landscaped once the
quarrying has finished.

It is wonderful how apparent wastelands that look like they had been
nuked can recover in such a wonderful way. If mankind was to disappear
tomorrow I doubt Mother Nature would have much trouble restoring
things.

On Sun, 3 Jan 2010 14:00:26 GMT, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from K contains these words:

lloyd writes

That's what I was thinking, and of course the lovely smiley flowers.

I think you have to be quite careful. The "dykes, ditches and plots of
apparent wasteland" might be wildlife refuges amongst the arable land.

Wildlife includes anything from beetles and native plants to
breeding birds and lizards. Such considerations may form part of
the owner's longterm economic strategy; or study appraisal by advisory
groups who grant funding. His income, or wildlife support plan, may
depend on leaving that land
exactly as it is.

Isn't that what K said!

I know this isn't your situation, but just as a thought: orchids seem to
thrive in abandoned industrial sites, with large multi-species
populations on an alkali waste dump in Lancashire and in various
abandoned quarries and lime kilns in the Yorkshire Dales. One of the
greatest threats to this sort of site has been well-meaning agreements
in the planning permission that the site should be landscaped once the
quarrying has finished.

A large leaved introduction like sunflowers, might easily shade out a
colony of wild orchids, preventing them from ripening seed.

I was talking about the odd seed here and there not planting a crop!

I suspect we are just being trolled

That's a shame, I bet you suffer from terrible indigestion! Do you
still look for reds under the bed!