Dear All,
dose anyone have any thoughts on how to cultivate wild plants in one's own
garden. Is their any web site to advise on this.

In message , Neil Smith
writes
Dear All,
dose anyone have any thoughts on how to cultivate wild plants in one's own
garden. Is their any web site to advise on this.

Leave it alone - the weeds will soon grow...:-)

When you say wild plants, what sorts in particular? Growing woodland
plants, meadow plants, trees all require different techniques.
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

Let's start with meadow plants. I am little uncomfortable with the concept
of the perfect lawn. To build up a collection of wild meadow plants would be
nice. Is there a non-destuctive way that one can do this?
"Chris French and Helen Johnson" wrote
in message ...
In message , Neil Smith
writes
Dear All,
dose anyone have any thoughts on how to cultivate wild plants in one's
own
garden. Is their any web site to advise on this.

Leave it alone - the weeds will soon grow...:-)

When you say wild plants, what sorts in particular? Growing woodland
plants, meadow plants, trees all require different techniques.
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

In article , Neil Smith
writes
Dear All,
dose anyone have any thoughts on how to cultivate wild plants in one's own
garden. Is their any web site to advise on this.

Many garden plants *are* wild plants - if not here, then in another
country ;-)

I guess you mean specifically UK wild plants.

Basically, cultivate them as you would any other plant - find out what
conditions they like and provide them. There's no overriding rule - some
plants like dry sunny spots, some like moist places in the shade, some
are happy competing with grass, some need a bit of help to hold their
own. Even the ones that will compete with grass are happy being grown in
a border, so there's no necessity to go down the 'wildflower meadow'
route unless you want to. Field geranium, red campion, scabious are just
3 of the ones that would look perfectly at home in a flower border.

www.allgowild.com has a 'gardeners manual' section which describes a few
wild plant (those that like living in meadows) with some information on
growing conditions.



--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

Just remember if you are going to grow "Wild Plants" then many of them would
rather poor soil and NO fertilizer.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

In article , Neil Smith
writes
Let's start with meadow plants. I am little uncomfortable with the concept
of the perfect lawn. To build up a collection of wild meadow plants would be
nice. Is there a non-destuctive way that one can do this?

Simply mowing your lawn and taking away the cuttings and not fertilising
will over time make it easier for flowers to compete, and over the years
all sorts of things will arrive.

If you want to add to what is there, then to give it a fighting chance
you need to introduce plants rather than seeds, and perhaps keep them
clear of grass the first season.

I should have said earlier that you need to decide on what sort of
meadow - you could go for short cropped turf, and that will mean you go
for all sorts of low growing plants that can cope with this. My father's
lawn, which was entirely unintentional, had daisies, red and white
clover, self heal, birds foot trefoil.

Or you could go for a spring meadow, with wild daffs, crocuses, snakes
head fritillary, primroses, cowslips. You'd leave this uncut until the
daffodil leaves had died down and the cowslips hat released their seed,
and then mow.

Or you could have a summer meadow, with field geranium, vetches, white
campion, scabious, hard heads. This would need to be uncut till late in
the season to give things time to flower and then to set seed. You would
need perennial plants rather than 'cornfield flowers' like marigold,
poppy, cornflower, corncockle, as these are annual and rely on the
ground being dug over each year so that their seedlings can compete on
bare ground.

As to non destructive - presumably you are worrying about where to get
the plants/seeds from? There's lots of places selling wildflower seed -
try for example landlife in liverpool - and you could grow the seed like
any other garden plant in seed trays, potting on the seedlings till
they're large enough to plant out. Otherwise, there are a number of
nurseries specialising in wild flowers, or you may find your local
garden centre sells some.

By the way, bottom posting is the norm in this group. Please don't top
post as it gets the thread very tangled when everyone else is bottom
posting.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

In article . 150,
Victoria Clare writes
Kay Easton wrote in news:n6KYO
:

I should have said earlier that you need to decide on what sort of
meadow - you could go for short cropped turf, and that will mean you go
for all sorts of low growing plants that can cope with this. My father's
lawn, which was entirely unintentional, had daisies, red and white
clover, self heal, birds foot trefoil.


I'm really enjoying the speedwells this year. Seems to be a particularly
good one for them, and I neither planted a seed nor took a cutting!

Yes, I transplanted a germander speedwell from my dad's garden and now
have lots - it looks really good with its masses of deep blue flowers
around one of our ponds


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

In article , Neil Smith
writes
Dear All,
dose anyone have any thoughts on how to cultivate wild plants in one's own
garden. Is their any web site to advise on this.


http://www.habitat.org.uk/wildflwr.htm
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.