For the coming summer i am thinking about growing some wildflowers straight from seed , the area they are to be finally planted is just bare soil approx 2 ft wide and about 8 mtrs long (the edging of a paved area ) the requirements i would prefer would be plenty of colour,mixture and fragrance and to flower the first summer where i can then add next year..any help or ideas appreciated.......THANKS

On 12/1/08 18:55, in article , "rabc"
wrote:


For the coming summer i am thinking about growing some wildflowers
straight from seed , the area they are to be finally planted is just
bare soil approx 2 ft wide and about 8 mtrs long (the edging of a paved
area ) the requirements i would prefer would be plenty of
colour,mixture and fragrance and to flower the first summer where i can
then add next year..any help or ideas appreciated.......THANKS


You can get wildflower mixes from various seedsmen but remember that 'weeds'
are wildflowers too and are opportunists. Almost certainly you will not end
up with a controlled form of planting.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 12 Jan, 18:55, rabc wrote:
For the coming summer i am thinking about growing some wildflowers
straight from seed , the area they are to be finally planted is *just
bare soil approx 2 ft wide and about 8 mtrs long (the edging of a paved
area ) *the requirements i would prefer would be plenty of
colour,mixture and fragrance and to flower the first summer where i can
then add next year..any help or ideas appreciated.......THANKS

Lovely. What is your soil like, if you know, is it dry or wet loamy,
chalky, heavy clay ...is it shaded? It all make a difference because
if you choose the wrong seeds, they simply won't come up and you'll be
disapointed. It's important to know if your area is neutral, chalky or
acid. What is there now at the moment? The paved area, is it a car
area, concrete, tarmac, slabs? It's funny that you've said 2ft and
then 8 metres (you can't mix measurements like that!!) - you'll need
about 2gr of seeds per sqm. For 8 metres, incorporating grasses would
be nice. And if you want to do this, do it from now until March/April
but no later.

On 12 Jan, 22:08, Sacha wrote:
You can get wildflower mixes from various seedsmen but remember that 'weeds'
are wildflowers too and are opportunists. Almost certainly you will not end
up with a controlled form of planting.

It would be best to get not just UK native species, but seeds from
your local area if possible.

http://www.lincstrust.org.uk/factshe...adow/index.php is a useful
resource, perhaps the OP has a similar organisation for where they
live.

RABC,

I was inspired to do similar by Islington Council's fantastic effort in
a park beside Holloway Road (the Archway end): an undulating strip
ablaze with all sorts of glorious wildflower colours! The traffic would
slow. People got out their cameras.

So I took this idea back to West Wales with me and ordered a vast
quantity of wildflower mix, weeded and tilled and sowed all in
accordance with the best directions to be found (in fact, I think people
on this group gave me a lot of help). And the next year, wow, what a
show! In autumn I did the prescribed and mowed the whole area down.
Come spring, however, I noted that grasses and buttercups were getting a
grip. I pulled out as much as I could but this wildflower area of ours
was about 50 feet by 30 feet and I am afraid the grasses and ranunculus
won. The second year, only the toughest wildflowers managed to compete.
The third year, we had the most blinding blaze of shining buttercups
for three weeks and in the entire area not more than a handful of
wildflowers.

Meanwhile I was observing the progress of the inspiration on the
Holloway Road while on trips back to London. The council's display too
was never as good in successive years as it was at first. So all I can
say is, a wildflower meadow is great when it works, but pay great
attention to those conditions which are best. In Wales we had acid
soil, a great deal of moisture, and MILLIONS of devouring slugs. (Re.
slugs, none of the lupins in our wildflower mix ever got near to
blooming!)

There are areas in the south of France where wildflowers abound
naturally. And there are fields on certain Greek islands which are full
of them too. So a lack of moisture is clearly one factor. I'ld also
seriously look into the ground-type of those areas.

Good luck.

Eddy.

On 13 Jan, 12:43, Eddy
wrote:
a wildflower meadow is great when it works, but pay great
attention to those conditions which are best.

Of course, field buttercups are wild flowers too. But you are right,
this is why the experts recommend a very poor soil.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...wer_meadow.asp has
the interesting idea of annual seeding.

Eddy wrote:
..

So I took this idea back to West Wales with me and ordered a vast
quantity of wildflower mix, weeded and tilled and sowed all in
accordance with the best directions to be found (in fact, I think
people on this group gave me a lot of help). And the next year, wow,
what a show! In autumn I did the prescribed and mowed the whole
area down. Come spring, however, I noted that grasses and buttercups
were getting a grip. I pulled out as much as I could but this
wildflower area of ours was about 50 feet by 30 feet and I am afraid
the grasses and ranunculus won. The second year, only the toughest
wildflowers managed to compete. The third year, we had the most
blinding blaze of shining buttercups for three weeks and in the
entire area not more than a handful of wildflowers.

Mr Darwin had a way to explain this! I am afraid that this is the way of
things, unless you have grass-free and "rank-weed" free seed at the start,
and even then your area will eventually fall to those very successful
species. Some years ago you could have used alloxydim (now no longer
available) to get rid of the grass, but this would have been rather
pointless as it would have eventually blown in from elsewhere.

There are areas in the south of France where wildflowers abound
naturally. And there are fields on certain Greek islands which are
full of them too. So a lack of moisture is clearly one factor. I'ld
also seriously look into the ground-type of those areas.

It is probably more due to pretty infertile soil than moisture, although the
latter plays a part. The world's best wildflower displays are in
impoverished soils.

Good luck.

I'll second that.

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

In message , rabc
writes

For the coming summer i am thinking about growing some wildflowers
straight from seed , the area they are to be finally planted is just
bare soil approx 2 ft wide and about 8 mtrs long (the edging of a paved
area ) the requirements i would prefer would be plenty of
colour,mixture and fragrance and to flower the first summer where i can
then add next year..any help or ideas appreciated.......THANKS

Several others have provided good advice but I will just add a little
more from our experience of wildlife/wildflower gardening.

I would suggest that mixed seed collections from the main seed suppliers
(T&M, Suttons, Fothergills) can contain too many varieties in an effort
to cover as many habitat/soil combinations as possible which can lead to
poor performance unless one is lucky. As an example it is not, as a
rule, worth planting hay meadow plant seeds in a shaded area, although a
few like the poppy, Papaver rhoeas, will grow quite well. There is
however a wide range of woodland plants that can cope well with low
light conditions. It is also worth considering how dry/wet the area is -
we have a sunny, open area that is poorly drained that meadow plants
will not survive in.

As others have indicated unwanted 'weeds' such as the creeping
buttercup, Ranunculus repens, can be a real nuisance (not to be confused
with the meadow buttercup, Ranunculus acris, which is an interesting,
tall meadow plant) and it is a good idea to clear an area of such plants
before sowing/planting wildflowers, so as the area in question is bare
soil you may want to leave it until the usual crop of 'weeds' has
surfaced and remove them or spray them off prior to sewing/planting.
Land that has not been fertilised in recent years is a good starting
point.

A good alternative to direct sewing is getting single species seeds and
sewing them in trays or plug containers. Whilst this is a bit more work
you can then plant out in small single species groups which can look
very effective in a garden setting.

As with much gardening, preparation is at least half the battle. It is
quite hard work to establish wildflower areas that look right, can be
maintained for future years and help support a diverse wildlife
population. Having said that it is possible to speed things up a bit by
buying wildlife plants or plugs which can be very useful to create a
smallish area in a couple of years to see if you want to get more
involved in wildlife/wildflower gardening.

There are a fair number of online specialist suppliers of seeds and
plants - I tend to use those who also supply farmers/land managers with
seeds/plants for agri-environment schemes as their mixes are usually
simple collections of four seed types and it is possible to order single
species seeds and plants.

For some more online information you may want to have a look at the
Natural England website at
http://www.english-nature.org.uk/Nat...en/default.asp which
includes a pdf on wildflower meadow creation. If you do get bitten by
the wildlife gardening bug it is worth picking up a copy of Chris
Baines' excellent 'How to make a wildlife garden'.

--
Robert

"rabc" wrote in message
...

For the coming summer i am thinking about growing some wildflowers
straight from seed , the area they are to be finally planted is just
bare soil approx 2 ft wide and about 8 mtrs long (the edging of a paved
area ) the requirements i would prefer would be plenty of
colour,mixture and fragrance and to flower the first summer where i can
then add next year..any help or ideas appreciated.......THANKS




--
rabc
I can donate some poppy seeds if that will help.We had a good crop this
year.
Derek

Some wild flower take a while to get going so may not flower the first
year, indeed may not look very much at all until they bulk up!

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

The best wildflower seeds I have come across were developed by Nigel Dunnett at Sheffield University and are available at Garden Boutique http://www.gardenboutique.co.uk/showdetails.asp?id=187

Although they are a mix of native and non native garden plants, they produce the most spectacular long lasting display of meadow flowers continuously from May to September. Great value. All other seeds pale by comparison

Alisha

Thanks for all the advice, obviously its not a case of buying a bag of seeds and then scattering them onto the soil, if its of any more help the area they are to be planted is well drained and gets full sunshine most of the day, would it be a better idea to buy single packets of seeds so as to do away with the grasses,weeds etc any advice on what type to suit the conditions (the border is around a paved patio area ).....CHEERS

Are maintained wildflowers wildflowers?

Regards

"Eddy" a écrit dans le message de
...
RABC,

I was inspired to do similar by Islington Council's fantastic effort in
a park beside Holloway Road (the Archway end): an undulating strip
ablaze with all sorts of glorious wildflower colours! The traffic would
slow. People got out their cameras.

So I took this idea back to West Wales with me and ordered a vast
quantity of wildflower mix, weeded and tilled and sowed all in
accordance with the best directions to be found (in fact, I think people
on this group gave me a lot of help). And the next year, wow, what a
show! In autumn I did the prescribed and mowed the whole area down.
Come spring, however, I noted that grasses and buttercups were getting a
grip. I pulled out as much as I could but this wildflower area of ours
was about 50 feet by 30 feet and I am afraid the grasses and ranunculus
won. The second year, only the toughest wildflowers managed to compete.
The third year, we had the most blinding blaze of shining buttercups
for three weeks and in the entire area not more than a handful of
wildflowers.

Meanwhile I was observing the progress of the inspiration on the
Holloway Road while on trips back to London. The council's display too
was never as good in successive years as it was at first. So all I can
say is, a wildflower meadow is great when it works, but pay great
attention to those conditions which are best. In Wales we had acid
soil, a great deal of moisture, and MILLIONS of devouring slugs. (Re.
slugs, none of the lupins in our wildflower mix ever got near to
blooming!)

There are areas in the south of France where wildflowers abound
naturally. And there are fields on certain Greek islands which are full
of them too. So a lack of moisture is clearly one factor. I'ld also
seriously look into the ground-type of those areas.

Good luck.

Eddy.

On 14 Jan, 14:29, Alisha wrote:
The best wildflower seeds I have come across were developed by Nigel
Dunnett at Sheffield University and are available at Garden Boutiquehttp://tinyurl.com/2cbyct

I'll second this! I was going to mention his work. He's a guru of
mine! He's marvelous. He's done lots of roof gardens too and has
inspired me when I done mine last year )

http://www.shef.ac.uk/landscape/cont...ett/index.html

In message , rabc
writes

rabc;769940 Wrote:
For the coming summer i am thinking about growing some wildflowers
straight from seed , the area they are to be finally planted is just
bare soil approx 2 ft wide and about 8 mtrs long (the edging of a paved
area ) the requirements i would prefer would be plenty of
colour,mixture and fragrance and to flower the first summer where i can
then add next year..any help or ideas appreciated.......THANKS

Thanks for all the advice, obviously its not a case of buying a bag of
seeds and then scattering them onto the soil, if its of any more help
the area they are to be planted is well drained and gets full sunshine
most of the day, would it be a better idea to buy single packets of
seeds so as to do away with the grasses,weeds etc any advice on what
type to suit the conditions (the border is around a paved patio area

You should be able to get a simple corn meadow mix which would normally
include the following annuals to give a good show of colour
June/July/August:
Common Poppy, Papaver rhoeas (red)
Corn Chamomile, Anthemis arvensis (white)
Corn Marigold, Chrysanthemum segetum (yellow)
Cornflower, Centaurea cyanus (blue)
with probably a preponderance of poppy and possibly some additional
species such as Meadow buttercup, Ranunculus acris (yellow)

Please note that some meadow mixes include grasses, which is typical of
natural meadows and those produced for agri-environment schemes, but you
may want your plot to contain the maximum of colour and therefore avoid
mixes containing grasses.

Perrenials could include:
Ox eye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare (white)
St Jon's wort, Hypericum perforatum (yellow)

In the (unlikely) event that you cannot find a suitable mix you may want
to start with your own mix of the first four annuals I have indicated
which should be available as single species.
--
Robert