I have himalayan balsam in the garden and now understand it's a notifiable
weed. I quite like the plant; grows tall (5.5' - 6'), pretty, delicate
flowers throughout the summer, bees love it and the slugs ignore it. But
now I'm looking for alternatives.

Having purused my books, hollyhocks, golden rod, achillea and angelica seem
possible. How do these fare in the bee & slug department ? Can anyone
suggest other perrenials or hardy annuals ? My garden has a stony, very
slightly acid, thin soil which quickly dries out in the summer. I'm in
South Bucks.
MTIA, Diane
--
(takeaway curry if you want to reply direct)

"flake" wrote in message
...
I have himalayan balsam in the garden and now understand it's a notifiable
weed. I quite like the plant; grows tall (5.5' - 6'), pretty, delicate
flowers throughout the summer, bees love it and the slugs ignore it. But
now I'm looking for alternatives.

Having purused my books, hollyhocks, golden rod, achillea and angelica
seem
possible. How do these fare in the bee & slug department ? Can anyone
suggest other perrenials or hardy annuals ? My garden has a stony, very
slightly acid, thin soil which quickly dries out in the summer. I'm in
South Bucks.
MTIA, Diane
--
(takeaway curry if you want to reply direct)

Foxgloves would do well in that situation - the yellow species are worth
trying as well as the native D. purpurea. Verbascums - white and yellow
species.

Rod

"Rod" wrote in message
...

Having purused my books, hollyhocks, golden rod, achillea and angelica
seem
possible. How do these fare in the bee & slug department ? Can anyone
suggest other perrenials or hardy annuals ? My garden has a stony,
very
slightly acid, thin soil which quickly dries out in the summer. I'm in
South Bucks.
--

Foxgloves would do well in that situation - the yellow species are worth
trying as well as the native D. purpurea. Verbascums - white and yellow
species.

Thanks Rod. I'd thought about foxgloves and indeed there were a few
purpurea ones in the garden when we first moved here. Love the white ones
which I'd grown in my previous garden. But they don't self-seed well here -
I assume the soil is just a bit too dry. I've been adding mulch and compost
for some years now but the leylandii hedge that backs the borders doesn't
help. Also wondering about monkshood but IIRC that likes similiar
conditions to foxgloves.

I'd love verbascums but for some reason I have them filed in my mind as slug
fodder. It would be great to hear I'm wrong ! Saw some fantastic white
varieties this year ('Helen Johnson' and that ilk haven't appealed before).

Many thanks once again, Diane

In article , flake
writes
I have himalayan balsam in the garden and now understand it's a notifiable
weed.

Have a look at www.defra.gov.uk and also at the relevant legislation -
Weeds Act 1959 and the ?Wildlife or ?Wildplant act of ?1981 - ref on
DEFRA site.
AFAIK it's not notifiable - in other words you don't have any duty to
notify anyone that you've got it.
I think your duty only goes as far as making sure you don't let it
escape - either into the wild or on to neighbouring land, depending on
which Act it's covered under.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/

In article , flake
writes


I'd love verbascums but for some reason I have them filed in my mind as slug
fodder. It would be great to hear I'm wrong ! Saw some fantastic white
varieties this year ('Helen Johnson' and that ilk haven't appealed before).

I grow the ordinary yellow mullein with white felted leaves and that has
no problem with slugs.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/

"Kay wrote in message
I'd love verbascums but for some reason I have them filed in my mind as
slug
fodder. It would be great to hear I'm wrong ! Saw some fantastic white
varieties this year ('Helen Johnson' and that ilk haven't appealed
before).

I grow the ordinary yellow mullein with white felted leaves and that has
no problem with slugs.

We grow V.chauxii "Album" with smooth leaves, well no hair, which seeds
around and also does not get "slugged" or more likely "snailed" in our front
garden.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

Thus spake flake unto the assembled multitudes:
I have himalayan balsam in the garden and now understand it's a notifiable
weed.

This is growing prolifically (but localised) along the banks of a stream in
an area of woodland near me. Does this mean I need to notify my local
authority of its existence?



--
Andy Clews University of Sussex Computing Service
(Remove DENTURES if replying by email)

In article , Andy Clews
writes
Thus spake flake unto the assembled multitudes:
I have himalayan balsam in the garden and now understand it's a notifiable
weed.

This is growing prolifically (but localised) along the banks of a stream in
an area of woodland near me. Does this mean I need to notify my local
authority of its existence?

I have emailed DEFRA with this question since no one on this ng seems to
be able to give this answer - people have said 'such and such is
notifiable' and referred us to the DEFRA site, but nowhere in their weed
information is there any indication that you have to notify anyone of
any weed (unless it is one of the 5 weeds (not including Him. Balsam)
covered by the 1959 Act and you are concerned at its spreading from
someone else's land - just having it on your land or seeing it somewhere
does not mean you have to notify anyone)
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/garden/

"Andy Clews" wrote in message
...
Thus spake flake unto the assembled multitudes:
I have himalayan balsam in the garden and now understand it's a
notifiable
weed.

This is growing prolifically (but localised) along the banks of a stream
in
an area of woodland near me. Does this mean I need to notify my local
authority of its existence?



I don't believe you are under any compulsion to do so. If it's your land,
try and get rid of the weed. If it's not your land, there's no harm ringing
the council, I suppose.

It was a dark and stormy night, and as the people of uk.rec.gardening
huddled around the fire, Rod told them this story:

"flake" wrote in message
...
I have himalayan balsam in the garden and now understand it's a notifiable
weed. I quite like the plant; grows tall (5.5' - 6'), pretty, delicate
flowers throughout the summer, bees love it and the slugs ignore it. But
now I'm looking for alternatives.

Foxgloves would do well in that situation - the yellow species are worth
trying as well as the native D. purpurea. Verbascums - white and yellow
species.

But foxgloves wouldn`t smell so wonderfully of peaches..

We were walking in the park one summer's day when we were struck in the
face by the scent of peaches. It took us a while to work out where it
came from, but when we did, we vowed to have some of that in our garden.
We collected seeds and sowed them in the spring, but they grew very
slowly and had only just flowered when they were killed off by that hard
frost back in October. The ones in the park had pretty much finished by
then, so no balsam for us next year.

We reckon they grew so slowly because we sowed them too close to the
hedge, not at that point realising that a) balsam normally lives by
rivers and likes it damp and b) hedges dry out the soil.

Still, we had two huge foxgloves that produced loads of seeds, so maybe
we will just have to make do with foxgloves. And the lupins we grew
from seed this year. We tried delphiniums but none of them got beyond
two leaves all summer. I`m not sure why, maybe they didn`t like the
compost..

Rhiannon