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Unknown said: Has the Yellow Rattle grown, MarJus?
Has the Yellow Rattle grown, MarJus?
As usual I was impatient to get going with the pack, but the instructions were to sow in autumn as the yellow rattle apparently needs a cold spell for germination. I could have tried a few days in the freezer but thought better to let nature work it's magic!! So hopefully by next spring I'll see some signs! :-)
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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Hi Beenaut,
From my own experience plugs work the best by far in an established lawn. Even better would be to de-turf and start afresh but that is one hell of a job (I had the blisters to prove it for quite some time!!)
In the past I have tried cutting the grass really short then just 'scalping' it with a spade or even a strimmer to get some patches of soil visible! I then sowed some seed and planted plugs into the 'bald' areas. This did work to some extent but I have to say the seed performed poorly but the plugs did very well with some space and air around them.
If trying to do it in an existing lawn then you must sow Yellow Rattle which is parasitic to grass and will give the wild flowers a bit of help by weakening the grass....
Yellow Rattle - Rhinanthus Minor
From my own experience I would say that doing it properly and de-turfing brings the best results. This year I sowed a good variety of wild flower seeds into trays and then planted them out as plugs which worked well. Although most wild flowers aren't great to grow in this way and are better sowed direct. Plug successes for me this year were from Corn Cockle, Corn Marigolds, Corn Flowers, Ragged Robin, Oxeye Daisies, Achiliea. I also added some extra annuals such as Cosmos as it is it's first season and I wanted a good colourful display to attract the insects etc...
You can judge for yourself how my plugs did this year....
Higgy
There's some amazing meadows/lawns out there1 We have just acquired a small 'low maintenance' garden that we're planning to make more wildlife friendly, including putting in a little lawn. Any tips for what might be the best use of a very small area of long grass (compared to the ones above)? I was thinking of naturalising spring bulbs, or picking 1 wildflower species, but am open to ideas.
Hi Bookmonster,
If I had one flower that I had to use in a small lawn area like yours my choice would be corn marigold. My reasons are that they are easy to grow from seed in pots so you can plant plugs which is more reliable and easy for a small area. I have found this year that so long as you keep them dead-headed they will flower all summer long.
This year my Corn Marigold plugs started flowering in May and some are still flowering now!! (we've even had one light frost!!) Even in October they are covered in pollinators on a sunny day!
My only slight hesitance would be that they are a favourite of Hover flies as well as quite a few other flies and beetles but not necessarily 'best' for Bees.
If I was you I would plant 2-3 species even in a small space as you will then cover more species of pollinators. There are so many species of beneficial pollinators such as, bees, hover flies, butterflies, beetles etc and all of these feed differently due to feeding style or even length of tongue and of course their size!....
Butterflies and moths generally like a flower head with lots a separate little flowers to drink from such as Achellia or Buddleia etc. I have found Hoverflies have a short tongue so prefer a flat single flower such as the Corn Marigold which gives them easy access to the pollen. Bumble bees tend to like more bell shaped flowers which they can crawl inside to reach the 'treasure!' Penstemon and Foxgloves are two that come to mind.
I hope that I haven't confused you but there are a few considerations such as, what you want your little area to do?
Another flower that I value but isn't a wild flower as such is Cosmos. This is an annual you would grow from seed but in my experience is visited by lots of different pollinators including bees. Once again they will flower from early summer through to the first frosts if you keep them dead-headed.
So to conclude, try and include a few different species of flower with different flower shapes to keep all potential visitors happy!!... :-)
Here is a link to a very interesting site I stumbled across which is well worth a read....
http://www.foxleas.com/index.htm
Hope that helps?
That's definitely helpful, thanks Higgy! I'm happy to plant for hoverflies. As we have very limited space, we're trying to orient our planting round bees as we know we get them already, but I do love watching hoverflies.
One question though- I know it's better to plant a wildfower meadow in unfertile soil so the grass doesn't out-compete the wildflowers. In this way, does leaving a lawm unfertilised encourage 'good weeds' such as daisy and clover?
Well. I did my best. I moved into a cottage with a neatly mown back lawn, and a sheep meadow beyond. Very scenic, but too sterile for my taste. Come March I carefully mowed just a curving bit nearest the house (so the landlord could see it wasn't just a neglected garden but designed-for-a-purpose). A couple of weeks later I checked to see how it was doing. No sign of my "wildflower meadow" beginnings - all the grass was a uniform height. There were a lot of hungry rabbits just ready and waiting for this treat. Every morning at dawn two or three happily hop through the fence and munch away, preferring dandelion flowers, dropped apple tree leaves, and my tasty clover-rich grass. I have decided to start again on a derelect vegetable patch away from the lawn and see if they notice. (It would seem a bit perverse just to try to fence out the rabbits ...) Regards