Wildflowers for acid soil.
 

Hi Everyone,

In early June I asked people here about fox-gloves: whether I should let
them rage through my garden or not. As a result of the replies I learnt
I am extremely lucky: deep purple fox-gloves want to pop up EVERYWHERE
in my garden while other people with different environments can barely
encourage a few to take root.

Things have moved on. My lawns are large and sloping, sometimes
steeply, and cutting them, even with the blades always at high level, is
extraordinarily exhausting as well as demanding three hours every two
weeks!

So I have started to combine the above two factors. Last weekend I
mowed only a series of nicely curving paths through my grass and I am
going to let the rest grow wild like the adjacent farmland. Thistles
will dock will no doubt eventually appear and I will just cut them out,
but wild-flowers I want to encourage.

My soil is quite acidic. English Nature recommends twenty or so
wildflowers for acidic soil. Over the next few years I intend to insert
them as "plugs" higgledy-piggledy into small holes in the lawn. The
proper method to create grassland is to completely remove your lawn (!),
till the top few inches of remaining soil, de-nutrify it as much as
possible for a few years by planting it with Yellow Rattle, and then
sprinkling it with a mixture of all the wildflowers and wild grasses
that love acid soil. Well, I cannot be doing all that. Too expensive
an operation for one thing.

I would love to hear from anyone else who has tried (and hopefully
succeeded) in turning the odious task of lawn-mowing into enjoyment of a
profusion of simple wild flowers.

Below is English Natures recommended list of wild flowers for acid soil.

Ellie.

----------------------------

1. wild flowers which germinate easily over a wide range of conditions:
oxeye daisy leucanthemum vulgare,
butter cup ranunculus acris,
yarrow achillea millefolium,
self-heal prunella vulgaris.
2. wild flowers suitable for acid soils:
Campanula rotundifolia
Centaurea nigra
Hieracium pilosella
Hypericum pulchrum
Hypochaeris radicata
Leontodon autumnalis
Plantago lanceolata
Potentilla erecta
Potentilla sterilis
Rhinanthus minor
Rumex acetosa
Rumex acetosella
Stachys officinalis
Succisa pratensis
Vicia cracca * = legume (use native strain only)
Viola riviniana* = legume (use native strainonly)
Lotus corniculatus * = legume (use native only)

Nell wrote:
The proper method to create grassland is to completely remove
your lawn (!), till the top few inches of remaining soil, de-nutrify
it as much as possible for a few years by planting it with Yellow
Rattle, and then sprinkling it with a mixture of all the wildflowers
and wild grasses that love acid soil. Well, I cannot be doing all
that. Too expensive an operation for one thing.


The ideal start point for a wildflower meadow is sub soil as left by many
new house builders!

If you try to do it on a fertile lawn it is more than likely that the
flowers will be out competed by the grass. The proper method is the proper
method for good reason!

pk

In article , Nell
writes

My soil is quite acidic. English Nature recommends twenty or so
wildflowers for acidic soil. Over the next few years I intend to insert
them as "plugs" higgledy-piggledy into small holes in the lawn. The
proper method to create grassland is to completely remove your lawn (!),
till the top few inches of remaining soil, de-nutrify it as much as
possible for a few years by planting it with Yellow Rattle, and then
sprinkling it with a mixture of all the wildflowers and wild grasses
that love acid soil. Well, I cannot be doing all that. Too expensive
an operation for one thing.

Perhaps, but your plug plants will struggle if your nutrient levels are
too high. Grasses, dandelions love a high nutrient situation and will
out-compete most other things. Be prepared for a long slog!

Very roughly, you need to decide on whether you want a spring meadow -
mow from July onwards, keeping about 6 inches high - or a summer one -
mow in September. Spring meadow plants include bulbs and low growing
plants which will struggle in the long grass of a summer one - cowslips,
for example, do not seem to thrive in long grass.

The big blue geranium and Centaurea nigra seem to be happy in long
grass, able to compete well, and relatively untroubled by slugs.

oxeye daisy leucanthemum vulgare,
slugs like these


yarrow achillea millefolium,

and this. I've completely failed to esatblish it.

self-heal prunella vulgaris.

Not very tall - think it would struggle in a summer meadow.


Campanula rotundifolia
suscepible to slug damage, and I don't think it will cope with long
grass.


Centaurea nigra
Good and showy.

Hieracium pilosella
Is this the orange one? Seems to be going well at the moment, but time
till tell.

Vicia cracca * = legume (use native strain only)
This is happy in long grass


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Kay wrote:
[...]
Hieracium pilosella
Is this the orange one? Seems to be going well at the moment, but
time
till tell.
[...]

Aaaarrggh!!! I hope it isn't syn. Pilosella aurantiacum, but I fear
it is. A few treasured plants in my wildflower lawn spread seed like
good'uns; I, in loco proud parentis, let some grow on in flower-beds,
till I realised what I'd done. The wild-flower field guide didn't
mention the runners...
I love the thing; but not in captivity.

--
Mike.

"Nell" wrote
snip
I would love to hear from anyone else who has tried (and hopefully
succeeded) in turning the odious task of lawn-mowing into enjoyment of a
profusion of simple wild flowers.

I've got an area of grass and wild flowers with mown pathways, although
unlike you we started from scratch on a plot that had been part of an
arable field and sowed a recommended grass mix.

I've found the plug plant system works well and is less wasteful of seed.
If you grow a few trays of seeds and plant out when you have some sturdy
plantlets, they will happily multiply themselves once established. Also you
can collect your own seed and add more where you need them.

IME it's a good idea to take of a small area of turf rather than try and
plant through it, then the young plants get a chance to take hold before
the grass closes in again.

Can understand you not wanting to have to take off all the turf initially.
Even on a poor soil (mine is light and sandy) you'd be surprised how
vigorously the grass can grow when left to its own devices tho', so one
thing you could do after you take off the last mowing is to give the area a
good old raking to take out as much thatch as possible and expose a bit of
the soil, then seed it with yellow rattle which is parasitic on grass
roots. That should reduce top-growth and the competition with your flowers.

If there's a specialist wildflower nursery near you they are usually a good
source of invaluable advice and inspiration for varieties to try.

It's very rewarding; I love my wild garden. Good luck with yours! :-)

--
Sue