Wildflower patch

[Reverdin]

Have been working on this for 5 years now... have posted pics before, but this year will try and update this thread from time to time...

weed-proof membrane over ordinary ground with 1-2 ins of subsoil/ grit/ sand mix, fortunately we have a very limey soil. Aim - to replicate an "Alpine meadow" to the best I can achieve. Area approx. 12 x 25 feet presently.

Planting of sourced fine grasses, with various seed plants of BFT, Self-Heal, Kidney Vetch, Sheep's Sorrel, Wild Strawberry, Yellow Rattle, Sheep's Bit and Field Scabious, Cat's-ear, Fox & Cubs, Common Knapweed, Common Rockrose, Wild Marjoram, Viper's Bugloss, Thyme, Dog-violet, Sanfoin, Red Clover, Common Vetch, Dianthus, Meadow Clary, Speedwell, Harebell and Betony.
Common Spotted Orchid also occur naturally on our patch of ground, and these thrive among the rest. I actually have to take young orchids out of the lawn to save mowing them.
Wired off until established.. this year for the first time I am letting the Rabbits in, hoping for a shortish sward without Armageddon!

This is what it looks like today....

OK... so it's just a patch of green!.... but I'm hoping for more!!

Plenty of butterflies visit it when in flower, but it is most covered in bees of all shapes and sizes... most welcome. I know we have had Small Coppers breed on it, but I'm still waiting for Common Blues to turn up...

[David M]

Sounds idyllic, Reverdin.

Good luck with it.

[Reverdin]

Thanks David... I think it sounds better than it is!! I just wish it was bigger! Oh, and I also wish I lived in a part of the country where Small Blues and Grizzled Skippers etc might also come to stay Anyone can do the same, the weed-proof is there to keep creeping thistle out and the "soil" poor...... but I suppose the rabbits help ( I may well regret stating the last bit)

[NickMorgan]

Interesting. I have always wanted to do something like that, but your wild flower patch is bitter than my entire garden!!
My father has 16 acres of woodland in the Scottish Borders and we have spent a long time thinning out the sycamore and generally opening up the woodland. It is amazing how the wild flowers have come through in what were bare patches. I notice that the more open grass areas are becoming thick grass with fewer flowers. There is an area that he has allowed people to put their horses on in the autumn, which has a lot more in the way of flowers, (including thistles, which attract so many insects and birds love the seeds).
He used to live in an amazing house in the Vosges, where the grassland was cut for hay twice a year and had cattle on it later in the season. It was an idyllic Alpine meadow.
I currently work for the local Council and we have recently started grazing areas of inland and coastal grassland that we manage. With no grazing the grass had become thick and smothered out the plants. We have tried sheep, cattle and Exmore ponies. There has been a noticeable increase in wild flowers at these sites in the last three or four years since we have started the grazing.
In another area we cut the grass in the autumn and rake off the cuttings. Other areas are left as uncut grass for things like Skippers.
Certainly it seems that wild flower areas have to be managed in order that they don't turn into thick grassland. By grazing or removing the cuttings the ground remains relatively poor, suiting the wild flowers.
I am watching the results with interest. I have slight concern about trampling, which could be squashing creatures living in amongst the vegetation, but I am sure that the benefits of grazing far out-weigh the disadvantages.
Sorry to waffle on. Will you be cutting your wild flower area at the end of the season, or scarifying the soil, or are you going to leave it and see what happens?

[Reverdin]

I have heard horses definitely seem to be the best grazers on a larger scale, Collard Hill etc, depending on timing. I cut my stuff back in autumn/winter, using scissors if necessary ( barrel of badgers ) but am hoping this year the rabbits will do it. I think on a small scale what I have done would provide anyone with a bit of nature, there must be so many potential bits of "lawn"... ok the scissors might put sane people off a bit

[Reverdin]

Just about 3 weeks have passed, and things are beginning to move on, tho' few flowers yet...

just a few violets and wild strawberries, the yellow rattle is growing taller, and just about everything is now jostling for position. I was in Kent yesterday, and I reckon N. Yorks is at least 3 weeks behind

[Reverdin]

Small Copper seen on the patch a few days ago....

Ten days since last pics, and patch beginning to blossom, these taken in the evening sun tonight....

[Reverdin]

Another 9 days, and more flowers appearing...

[Susie]

That's looking lovely

[Reverdin]

Yay... thank you very much ... lots to come, the scabious, Rockrose and betony are budding up presently, and the rabbits haven't yet destroyed everything, but seem to be keeping the whole thing generally shorter and "tighter" than other years. Butterflies don't figure large tho !

[Jack Harrison]

A very fine wildflower verge was developed at Hunstanton, Norfolk. On the eastern side of the A149 at the south of the town near the main roundabout, a verge had been sown with a wonderful mix of mainly Cornflowers. It wasn’t a true wildflower verge as the Cornflowers were a variety of colours: not just traditional blue, but also pink, white and various shades in between. I last saw the verge in 2012 before I moved from Norfolk. No doubt it is probably still flourishing there.

Cornflowers have always been one of my favourite flowers. As a youngster, I lived in the country just outside Great Yarmouth. The field at the back of the bungalow was often barley or wheat (usually simply called corn in those days). Cornflower “weeds” abounded and my mum used to climb over the back fence into the field and collect flowers. Once – I was around five years old at the time - instead of the usual blue, she found a pink one. I was thrilled.

Shortly after WW2 ended – at the time my dad was enjoying army life in Kenya – a gang of farm labourers worked the field. As we leaned over the fence, one came to speak to (chat up?) my mum. She whispered to me: “They’re Italian Prisoners of War!” Many Italians of course settled in UK. My best mate as a teenager had a lovely Italian-English girlfriend. Her father -inevitably - ran an ice cream business!

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be!

Jack

[selbypaul]

It looks like a lovely patch Reverdin - well done.

I've planted up two separate meadows in my garden. I do get some great Knapweed and Birds Foot Trefoil patches, and the Yellow Rattle does a good job of keeping the grass in check in some places. However the grasses are quite dominant in other parts. So I'm not sure mine is anywhere near as good as yours!

[Reverdin]

Just back off holiday... things have moved on.....

[Reverdin]

Again, things have moved on, now the Betony is out... a real favourite of mine, and Scabious have begun to show, small numbers of white Dianthus among the masses of Yellow Rattle and Bird's Foot Trefoil, outshowing the Common Rockrose.

The Meadow Browns love it but not a lot else to shout about!

[Reverdin]

A whole year on! The patch is beginning to take on it's own ownership, and is starting to spread across the paddock, with a little bit of help here and there The parts with weed-proof membrane underneath are definitely better for the low growing stuff, but colonies of wild stuff are starting to show elsewhere.

I reckon we're about 2 weeks behind on last year! On the positive side, I have seen a male, and a female Common Blue on it already, though neither seemed to stay around long, Meadow Browns are just appearing, and Painted Ladies have been here this weekend.

[selbypaul]

This looks lovely. I have my own meadow too, but it has a much greater percentage of grass. I'm quite jealous of yours!

[Reverdin]

thank you.... but I do have to be careful with my camera angles I would hazard a guess our fields are not generally dissimilar, but I have reached the stage I can bank on masses of great seed to propagate, and I can thoroughly recommend Yellow Rattle for "enabling" a patch of thick grass for future flowers.
In my head I have ideas of some prairie type planting in certain parts, but am not sure how that would appear, probably not great!!

[selbypaul]

I'm definitely a huge fan of Yellow Rattle. I use loads of it each year. I'm still very happy with the wildlife results. Ringlet, Meadow Brown, huge numbers of Gatekeeper, Small Skipper in some years and even a Common Blue. This is despite it only being a 10 metre by 8 metre suburban garden, 2 miles from the countryside. But the visuals of your meadow are definitely better

[Jack Harrison]

Selbypaul

I'm definitely a huge fan of Yellow Rattle.

Next week i am moving to a new property and have plans for a mini meadow to replace the rather uninteresting (mainly grass) south east facing front garden. All the advice I have read says that Yellow Rattle is a must. Would I be best to sow seeds in the autumn (apparently the only time to sow as they need winter cold - I will certainly get that) or use plug plants next spring? The latter would give me more time to prepare the ground as of course, when moving into a new place, there are so many other priorities.

So where do you source your Yellow Rattle? I have seen in the wild but would have no idea where to find it in my new area to the south of Nairn, Higland. Or maybe you (or someone else) will have some spare seeds.

Jack

[JohnR]

Being lazy and not wishing to strip the top couple of inches of my field, I sprayed it with a 360 Glyphosate in the late summer (after cutting and letting it regrow so that there was fresh growth for the herbicide). Rotovated the dead area, sowed a mixture of wildflower seed and extra Rattle, rolled it or ran a chain harrow over it, spike side UP. Hey presto, wildflowers! I cut it in the late summer but leave the hay for a week or two before raking up to allow the seed to drop. The Rattle is slow to spread into untilled ground, but it does.
I get my seed from Emorsgate Seeds who are on the web as http://wildseed.co.uk.

Later
And this is what it looks like now after all my maltreatment