Grow Wild – Transform Your Community

Tags

Barrhead Grow Wild project, Big Lottery Fund, Grow Wild, Monty Don, native wild flowers, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, The Great British Garden Revival

Meadowy delight

I don’t know if you got a chance to catch the first part of the new gardening programme, The Great British Garden Revival,  last night. A series of ten programmes kicked off with Monty Don extolling the virtues of our native wild flowers and highlighting the decline in our native species. It’s a subject I’m really passionate about. We’re lucky here in south Wales to have some stunningly beautiful meadows. Tiny pockets of land, which have been protected by the local wildlife trust, sparkle every summer with wild flowers and teem with insects.

I’ve written here about my favourite spot, just outside Monmouth several times. Last year as part of Wellyman’s degree we spent a morning recording species on the site comparing the diversity of plants between two fields. One was classed as unimproved pasture land and had been managed without any fertilisers for over ten years. The other field had been fertilised up until about two years ago. It was a fascinating few hours. Using a grid system we randomly selected squares to record. We were finding between two and ten species per square in the improved grassland but once in the unimproved field the distinction was clear almost immediately. Here recordings ranged from the high teens up to thirty. It was impressive that there could be such a difference when no more than 30 metres separated the two sample sites.

Grow Wild Barrhead flagship project

Wild flowers thrive on soil lacking in fertility and this ability is something we could exploit. We can all probably think of a patch of scruffy unused land somewhere, seemingly not much good for anything, that sits there unloved and makes our hearts sinks every time we see it. So I was really excited when I was contacted about a new initiative devised by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and funded by the Big Lottery Fund. Grow Wild will transform sites across the UK into wild flower gardens. The first Grow Wild Flagship site has been awarded to Barrhead in Scotland which will see a former sewage works transformed into an oasis of native flora. There’s even a plan for the derelict sewage tanks to be used as huge planters showcasing Scottish native wild flowers. Nominations are now open for a flagship site in England, with projects in Wales and Ireland to follow in 2015 and 2016. The winning English project will be given £120,000 to create a mini nature reserve in their town or city.

Kew and the Big Lottery Fund hope to encourage over 3 million people to get involved with wild flowers through this initiative, distributing 1 million packets of seeds through a variety of partners such as Girlguiding, Groundwork UK and the Prince’s Trust. There are also smaller grants available for community projects but you’ll have to act fast as the closing date for these is in January 2014.

Delicate harebells

There’s something very special about wild flowers. Perhaps it’s their simplicity, maybe it’s because they were often the first flowers we encountered as a child; whatever the reason, a meadow is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful sights in the British landscape. It would be desperately sad for us to see our native flowers disappear and it would have a terrible knock-on effect on biodiversity. So, if you were watching Monty last night wishing you had the space for your own meadow then maybe this is an opportunity to get involved in creating a space for wild flowers. If you can think of somewhere local to you which is currently a temple to shopping trolleys, rubble and brambles, a disused, neglected patch of land which has become an eyesore, then why not nominate it and who knows, maybe by the summer of 2015 you will be walking past a sea of grasses and wild flowers swaying in the breeze.

To nominate a potential site in England and for more information go to the Grow Wild website. The closing date for nominations is 14th February 2014. A short-list of four sites will then be drawn up and announced in August. Each of these four locations will be given £4000 to develop their proposals and a voting campaign will take place with the ultimate winner announced in October 2014. Work will commence on the winning site with the first wild flowers transforming the chosen project in 2015.

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Legumes, Cowslips and an Asparagus Tip

Tags

broad beans, cowslips, Gwent Wildlife Trust, peas, Pentwyn Farm, Wye Valley asparagus

Pear Blossom

On the vegetable front the past few weeks have been mostly about peas and beans. Not only have I been sowing mangetout, ‘Sweet Horizon’, a maincrop pea, ‘Hurst Greenshaft’ and broad beans, ‘Masterpiece Green Longpod’ but we’ve been feasting on peas shoots for a while now. I absolutely love broad beans but it wasn’t always that way. My memory of broad beans was those dreadful grey, dry, woolly things I was fed in the eighties. *shudders* The broad beans we eat now bear no resemblance, pick them when young and double pod them and the vivid green captures early summer on the plot. It’s difficult to buy organic broad beans, and even non-organic are sooooo expensive. For me, they are a must on our plot.

Until last year I had never thought it was worth growing my own peas. Frozen peas are nutritious and easy to come by. I did grow some sugar snaps though, and occasionally some of them swelled so much that we needed to discard the outer casing and eat the peas inside. Eaten straight away, and raw in salads they were so incredibly sweet and tasty. So, last year actual peas were introduced to the plot and despite the weather were a real success. Both sets of peas and the broad beans are all planted out now.

Making a bid for freedom – my forced rhubarb

Everything is crazily busy at the moment, hence my absence from blogging for a while. I’m either at the computer writing or in the greenhouse. My apologies if comments don’t go up for a while and I don’t get back to you or I don’t make it over to your blog. I still read all your comments and really appreciate you popping by. I would really love it if there were a few extra hours in each day. I did, however manage to get out for a bit of a walk on Saturday. Pentwyn Farm near Monmouth is an idyllic spot even if the cold wind had returned. It’s an area of unimproved grassland owned by Gwent Wildlife Trust.  A habitat that’s quite rare now, the fields are managed to protect the wide variety of wild flowers that grow there. We tend to come up here in early summer to see the orchids. It was strange to wander around through the fields in late April and there be so little to see. If you didn’t know what was hiding away in the soil waiting to appear you’d be forgiven for wondering why Pentwyn Farm is so important. This was the first time we’d used the new nature trail the wildlife trust have created. It took us down the valley and out past a field of Hebridean sheep which are being used to manage the grassland. There was also the slightly disconcerting sight of a couple of alpacas. It’s not that unusual now to see alpacas in the British countryside, brought in to protect newborn lambs from foxes, or kept for their wool. I still find it funny to see them, a touch of the Andes in Wales.

Cowslips

It may be May in a few days time but the landscape feels like it is only very reluctantly emerging into spring. Trees are coming to life but it was hard to imagine the fields in a month or so’s time, covered in orchids, eyebright, and yellow rattle. Then, just as we were leaving, we came across a field of cowslips. It’s been a great year for primroses, the cooler conditions meaning their flowering season has been long but we hadn’t come across any cowslips until yesterday. Unlike its cousin the primrose, cowslips need more sunshine and an open site in order to thrive. Once an abundant plant it played a significant role in the celebration of spring’s arrival but intensive agriculture and spraying of herbicides lead to a dramatic decline in their numbers, along with so many of our wild flowers. My own garden is teeming with primroses but I have only one cowslip plant which my mum gave me last year. The first thing I did when we got back from the walk was to go and see if it was flowering yet. And there they were, a couple of stems with delicate yellow trumpet-like flowers.

Asparagus spears

To complete the spring theme we came across the first bundle of asparagus spears in a local deli. I was surprised to see them to be honest. I had thought the cold spring would have delayed the harvest but it appears not. It was impossible to resist them even if the price tag was a little steep. The season is so short that they are such a treat to have over the coming weeks. Herefordshire and Worcestershire are proud of their asparagus growing, there’s a festival to celebrate the green spears with food, music and even inflatable asparagus. When it comes to cooking asparagus I prefer simplicity. I do occasionally put it in quiches or frittatas, but steamed with a few shavings of parmesan or with goats cheese and parma ham are my favourites. When it comes to snapping off the woodier base of a spear, my asparagus tip (sorry, dreadful pun, I know) is don’t throw the ends away. If you make your own vegetable stock they make a great addition giving it a lovely sweet flavour. I put the ends in a freezer bag, collecting them over the course of the asparagus season and keep them in the freezer. When you’re making your stock just get a few out and put in the simmering water along with your other veg.

Seedheads and Skeletons

Tags

Cornwall, Forest of Dean, hogweed, south west coat path, toadflax, valerian

Seedheads of sea thrift

I do love autumn, the mellow colours, misty mornings, bowls of soup, fruity crumbles, woodland walks and the smell of leaf litter but it’s been a struggle this year to embrace the changing seasons. A holiday by the Cornish coast last week went some way towards easing me into October though.

Some glorious weather gave us the opportunity to walk the coastal path where brambles were laden with fruit. In previous, warmer, summers the blackberry crop has ripened much earlier. Two years ago we were bramble picking in mid-August in the Forest of Dean with the whole crop gone a month later; the contrast this year is quite remarkable.

I’m always quite amazed at just what will grow in such an exposed location. At the extremities of the British Isles the north Cornish coast often bears the brunt of Atlantic storms and much of the ground is either rocky with little topsoil or is made up of a significant amount of sand. Summer flowering plants, such as the umbellifers wild angelica and hogweed, had died leaving behind the skeletal forms of stalks and seedheads. Bleached  blond by the sun and salt-laden wind they looked beautiful against the blue sky and golden sand.

Wild carrot seedheads

There were the seedheads of wild carrot curling back in on themselves and those of the common ragwort, rusty brown in their final stage of maturity.

The fresh green of spring and the vibrant pinks, blues and yellows may have been replaced by faded, muted tones of browns and beiges but I rather like these forms left by these wild flowers, such as the papery pom poms of sea thrift.

I was surprised to see some plants still flowering. Valerian in its pink, red and whites forms must have one of the longest flowering periods of all herbaceous perennials. In my own garden, it flowers from June through to the first frosts, generally at some point in October but in the mild maritime climate of Cornwall it flowers earlier and will continue into November.

Toadflax

Primrose yellow is not really a colour I would associate with autumn but this is the prime time to see toadflax, Linaria vulgaris, and its snapdragon/aquilegia hybrid-like flowers. The blooms are designed just like antirrhinums with a bottom lip-like flower part which lowers when an insect such as a bee lands on it, allowing the insect access to the pollen and nectar inside. Bees are attracted to this part of the flower by the deeper yellow, sometimes orange, markings guiding them to where the sugary rewards for pollination are to be found. The back of the flower has a spur just like those found on aquilegias.

In amongst the sand dunes were the seedheads of sea plantain and sea spurge still flowering, relatives of plants we’re more use to seeing in our garden borders and lawn, these varieties have adapted to the coastal conditions. Sea plantain, in fact, is often found growing in salt marshes and is one of few plants that can cope with such high salinity.

Conditions may be tough for plants along the coast but occasionally there was a reminder of one of the great benefits of living on this southern tip of Britain. The lack of hard frosts here and the generally milder air drawn up by the gulf stream allows for a wider range of plants to be grown and whilst many flowers are fading in my own garden they are still blooming profusely here in Cornwall. As the path dipped down out of the prevailing wind we came across this shot of colour from these nasturtiums sprawling across the bank of this little slipway.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who wished me a great holiday. It was good to switch off. Of course, it takes a while to get back into gear after a spell away, well it does for me. Once the pile of washing and ironing has diminished I’m looking forward to catching up with all your blogs again.

A New Obsession

Tags

Bee Orchid, Dungeness National Nature Reserve, Seven Sisters country Park, Viper's Bugloss, Weld, Yellow Horned Poppy

Sea thrift

I’ve become a little obsessed with wildflowers. I’m not sure when it happened exactly. I’ve always enjoyed seeing flowers in the wild but in the last year or so I’ve actually started seeking them out, making special trips in the hope I’ll come across a particular plant, as yet unseen. Our recent holiday to Kent and East Sussex gave me plenty of opportunities to indulge in my new passion.

The coastline of this stretch of the country is dominated by towering chalk cliffs and shingle beaches and the soil, underlying the countryside running down to the sea, is calcareous, created many millions of years ago by shells, sponges and sediment collecting on the sea bed to form a large chalk deposit. Where the land has not been fertilised for farming the soil depth is shallow and poor in nutrients and along the shore conditions are equally tough and yet, despite this, so many plants thrive. In fact, in some places it is because of this lack of soil fertility that there are so many native plants, as the stronger grasses which proliferate elsewhere can’t survive giving other species an opportunity to grow.

The nature reserves at Rye Harbour and Dungeness are great places for a spot of wildflower hunting. Wellyman was more interested in the marsh harriers and hobbies flying overhead. As he walked along with binoculars glued to his eyes I was ambling somewhat further behind, hunched over starting intently at the ground with wildflower guide in one hand. Some of these wildflowers are tiny, blink and you’ll miss them.

At first sight the landscape looks barren with mile upon mile of shingle but Dungeness Nature Reserve is actually home to over 600 plant species which is an incredible third of all plants found in the UK.

Bittersweet

We spotted this plant poking out of the shingle and immediately recognised the distinctive flowers as being those from the nightshade family. I thought at the time it was a strange place for it to be growing though. After a little research it turns out it is actually a prostrate Bittersweet or Woody Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara var. marinum) that grows specifically on shingle beaches such as those at Dungeness. I’ve seen its hedgerow cousin growing up to several feet in amongst the hawthorn and blackthorn but here in harsher conditions it grows to no more than a foot tall, hunkering down out of the wind. I love the colour combination of its flowers but this is a plant to leave alone, like its relative the Deadly Nightshade, it is extremely toxic.

Parts of the shingle are covered in carpets of tiny white, star-like flowers that belong to the English Stonecrop. The flowers are reminiscent of alpines and the plants cling to the rocks never growing more the several centimetres tall. Low down and out of the drying winds they are able to conserve what little moisture they have.

Viper’s bugloss

There were drifts of Viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare) everywhere. A member of the Borage family it has lovely purple flowers with pinky-red stamens. Several days earlier I had just planted out some Echium ‘Purple Bedder’ in my own garden, so to see the native version growing en masse was a real treat. A great plant for bees and butterflies as it is packed full of nectar, it apparently self sows with abandon and is obviously thriving along this stretch of coast and is one of the few plants to reach any sort of height, reaching over 2 foot.

A damselfly on the Nottingham Catchfly

This plant really caught my eye with its dangling flowers and petals that roll inwards during the day and then roll back at dusk, when it emits a strong perfume to attract moths. I had never seen it before but with a quick check of the guide discovered it was the brilliantly named Nottingham Catchfly. Named after Nottingham Castle where it was first discovered growing in the walls it no longer survives there. Rare nationally, it is thriving at sites such as Dungeness.

The tall spires of Weld

Another plant that wouldn’t look out of place in a garden border was Weld (Reseda luteola). A plant often found growing on wasteland, it favours calcareous soils. Its tall spires are similar to Veronicastrums and the acid greenness of its flowers combined so well with the purple flowers of Viper’s bugloss that it is often found growing alongside. I won’t be surprised if this isn’t a plant we don’t see used in the show gardens at Chelsea over the next couple of years. A biennial which flowers between June and August it is also know as Dyer’s Rocket and has been used for thousands of years to produce a yellow dye. The plant is like sunflowers in the way it tracks the sun during the day, even when it’s cloudy.

Yellow Horned Poppy on the shingle beach at Cuckmere

Even in June the wind whips through this landscape. It made walking and photography difficult so its the last place you’d expect to see a poppy. Normally poppies, although adapted to poor soil conditions, are easily damaged by heavy rain and wind but the Yellow Horned Poppy (Glaucium flavum) is made of sterner stuff. For the plant to ensure seed are produced the flower needs to stay around long enough for it to be pollinated and the flowers of this particular poppy can remain on the plant for a good couple of days. They still manage to look delicate and etheral but the leaves and stems of the plant are much more robust with thicker, waxy and hairy leaves designed to minimise water loss. The striking brightness of the yellow flowers contrasts beautifully with the grey-blue crinkly leaves.

Bee Orchid

And finally, the star of the show, well for me anyway, was the completely unexpected encounter with a bee orchid. We had just completed a walk along the chalk cliffs of the Seven Sisters, returning to the visitor centre a little stiff, tired, needing the loo and desperate for a cup of tea there they were, 2 bee orchids. It was in such an incongruous place about 2 metres from the road, at the main entrance to the visitor centre, on a little bank of grass. They had a little sign next to to them but other than that I wonder how many people walk past them not realising what a little beauty is sitting there because we had that morning when we started the walk. It is from a genus of plants that mimic insects with its appearance and it can give off pheromones to attract the male of the insect species it mimics so that it is pollinated. However, the bee orchid is the only one in its genus to dispense with this and has now evolved to carry out self-pollination which may explain its ability to quickly colonise areas. I’ve wanted to see a bee orchid ever since I became aware of them and this chance meeting made my day.

Beauty in Simplicity

Tags

early purple orchid, Gwent Wildlife Trust, Hebridean sheep, Monmouth, Pentwyn Farm, Wyeswood Common

Sometimes beauty can be found in the simplest of things. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I know not everyone will agree that a field of dandelions is beautiful but the scene we came across the other evening took my breath away. We took a trip up to a local meadow. I know what you’re thinking, ‘haven’t you just written a post about how you suffer from hay fever and how you and meadows are not a good combination?’ Yes, you’re right but the weather has been so beautiful here with long, warm, balmy evenings that are such a rarity in this country. The last thing I want to do is sit indoors when I could be outside watching the sun set over the Monmouthshire hills.

A couple of miles outside the town of Monmouth is one of Gwent Wildlife Trust’s reserves. Pentwyn Farm was purchased by the Trust in the nineties and since then work has been done to make this a haven for wildlife. Based on a traditional, small farm with a cottage, 13th century barn, stone stiles and dry stone walling separating the fields, it is particularly important for its unimproved hay meadows.

Early Purple Orchid

From spring right through into summer the fields are full of beautiful wildflowers, creating a sight that is now rare in the countryside. No chemicals have been used on this land for over 20 years now and they are maintained using traditional methods. In 2009 a flock of Hebridean sheep was introduced to the site to graze the land, an important part of managing this sort of meadow, helping to control the stronger grasses and coarse shrubby growth that, given the opportunity, will out-compete the more delicate grasses and wildflowers. Grazing can also aid seed distribution and ultimately improve the diversity of the meadow, allowing many more species to flourish.

Bird’s foot trefoil

The other evening the fields were rich with meadow buttercups, red clover, ribwort plantain and bird’s foot trefoil. These meadows are particularly important for the species of orchids that now grow here. We managed to see some early purple orchids hidden amongst the grasses. Later in the year you can see ox-eye daisies, eye bright and numerous orchids, including the common twayblade, the green-winged and the common spotted.

Ribwort plantain

As you can imagine, a place like this is the perfect home for wildlife. We were there as the evening bird chorus was under way, birds singing as if their lungs would burst. One bird was so loud, it was incredible that the sound could come from such a tiny creature. The endangered dormouse has established itself amongst the hedgerows and trees feasting on hazelnuts and berries and barn owls swoop over the fields seeking out mice and voles.

Not content with the 40 acres of Pentwyn Farm, Gwent Wildlife recently purchased adjoining farmland of 104 acres. This land had been farmed for dairy production, with a monoculture of rye grass but the ambitious plan is to return it, too to species rich meadows; to plant trees and hedgerows and join up the smaller pockets of old grassland creating wildlife corridors, which are so important for creatures like the dormouse.

Field of dandelions

This land, known as Wyeswood Common, was the last field we walked through. Wellyman had gone off, saying he’d spotted some ox-eye daisies, they were, in fact, dandelions and a whole field of them, hundreds of them that had gone to seed. In the soft light of the sunset they glistened and their white seed-heads looked like halos. It was quite a spectacular sight, made even more special by the realisation, as we watched and the breeze carried away the seeds, that this moment would be fleeting.

Already there are signs that the Trust’s plans are working, with the semi-parasitic yellow rattle visible in amongst the grass. This plant gains some of its nutrients from the roots of other plants, in this case the strong grasses around it. By weakening these plants, yellow rattle allows other species to establish themselves and is one of the first steps towards bringing diversity back to agricultural land.

I may have paid for it with eyes that puffed up so much I thought I might not be able to see in the morning (I’ve since bought some eye-drops) but this is truly an idyllic place, I just need to remember the tissues next time.

Easter Wildflower Hunt

Tags

English bluebells, hedgerows, Plantlife, wildflower survey, wood sorrel, yellow archangel

Wood sorrel

We spent Easter Sunday hunting wildflowers rather than Easter eggs. Not as tasty I’ll grant you but it was a lovely way to spend the morning. I’ve always loved wildflowers and then I found out last year that the charity Plantlife need volunteers to record the native flora in their local area. Intrigued I signed up and not long after a form, map and small identification guide came through the post. We had a great time last year doing the survey so were keen to take part again.

On Easter Sunday the weather was better than predicted so we drove a couple of miles to the spot we surveyed last year. It’s a track that is now only used by the local farmer and perfect for wandering along looking at wildflowers. With no traffic, the sun shining and birds singing we walked for 1 km down the track recording the plantlife we could see. In just a short stretch the habitat changes from hedgerows open to light to a wooded hollow as the track drops down to a small stream before it then climbs back up and into sunlight again. In a relatively small area it is surprising the number of plant species that can be seen.

Greater stitchwort

Last year we carried out the survey on 24th April, so we were interested to see if we would see anything different and how the warm March had affected our local wildflowers. Armed with a camera to record what we saw and a wildflower guide we wandered down the path. Pretty much immediately we spotted our first wildflower, a wild strawberry. As we walked along there were dog violets, yellow archangel, dead nettles, native bluebells, hart’s tongue ferns, herb robert, lots of lesser celandine, wild primroses, wood sorrel and wood anemones, greater stitchwort and lady’s smock. The great thing about this sort of activity is it really makes you stop and look at something you might ordinarily just walk past.

We’re often guilty, I think, of under appreciating our native flora and fauna. Maybe because it is so familiar to us, we see it driving past roadsides or when we’re walking the dog and therefore it doesn’t feel exotic. However, fairly common plants such as Yellow archangel have beautiful, delicate flowers similar to an orchid. Then there are the white, lilac veined flowers of wood sorrel with it’s trefoil leaves, which it folds down at night. Apparently this is a good indicator of ancient woodland and hedgerows.

Lady's smock

One of my favourite spring flowers which is popping up all over at the moment is Lady’s smock. Also known as cuckooflower it likes damp, grassy places. It’s white and pale lilac flowers can often be found en masse creating a lovely white cloud.

All these flowers were providing an excellent source of nectar for the huge bumblebees flying around.

Yellow archangel

The only downer to the walk was discovering at the end of the track an interloper, the Spanish bluebell. Introduced back in the 17th century, the Spanish bluebell can hybridise with our native bluebell but it’s the characteristics of the Spanish bluebell that dominate. Our native bluebell is a much more delicate plant, the bell-like flowers form on one side of the stalk and when the flowers are fully formed the stalks droop, forming a distinctive arch. The Spanish bluebells on the other hand look much more robust, have slightly larger, fatter leaves and the flowers are not confined to one side of the stalk and as a result the stem doesn’t droop. The Spanish bluebells are perfectly fine as a garden plant but the problem is when they find their way into our woods and hedgerows and mix with our native bluebells.

The survey really is easy to do, simply tick which plants you can see and then send this information off to Plantlife. We’re hoping to do the survey a couple of times this year to see what different species appear as the summer progresses.

For more information about native British wildflowers and how you can take part in the Wildflower Count Survey take a look at Plantlife’s website.

Plant of the Moment – Pulsatilla vulgaris ‘Rubra’

Tags

English Nature, Pasque Flower, Plantlife, Pulsatilla vulgaris

Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Rubra'

Spring really is the time for bulbs to fill the garden with colour from the early snowdrops and narcissi through to tulips and alliums, we rely on them to kick start the garden into life. There are however, other plants that shine at this time of year and one of my favourites is Pulsatilla vulgaris ‘Rubra’.

I grow mine in a terracotta bowl shaped pot by my front door and for weeks now I have seen stalks gradually sprout from the crown and flower buds start to swell. The anticipation rises because I know what a beautiful flower it is once open. Finally, at the weekend, this warm sunshine coaxed the flowers to open displaying rich velvety red petals and a bright yellow centre.

Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Rubra'

The foliage is mid green in colour and delicately dissected, with the flowers and stems, in particular, covered in soft downy hairs. The main variety has purplish coloured petals but it’s possible to get a white form, ‘Alba’ and a red shade, ‘Rubra’ which is the one I have.

In the garden Pulsatillas like lots of sun and well drained soil and make perfect plants for alpine gardens and containers. Once planted they don’t like being disturbed but are fairly undemanding plants otherwise. The best way to propagate them is to sow the seed in the green. I haven’t tried this yet but plan to this year.

Beautiful downy Pulsatilla

Also known as the Pasque Flower because it flowers around the time of Easter it surprised me to discover that they are native wildflowers, albeit scarce, here in Britain. It had been recorded at over 120 sites but can now be found at only 19 and of these 19 it is only found in good numbers at 5 sites. In the wild it grows in dry, chalk or limestone grassland found in the Cotswolds, East Anglia, the Chilterns, Lincolnshire and West Yorkshire. It is recognised as a ‘Priority Species’ under the UK’s Biodiversity Plan and organisations such as Natural England are working with landowners to protect their habitats. It’s main threat is from reduced grazing by sheep of grassland, stronger plants takeover and the Pasque Flower can’t compete.

Pulsatilla is the county flower of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire which might indicate how much more common it used to be. One of the best places to see them in the wild is Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s Barnsley Warren Reserve. A site of Special Scientific Interest, Pasque Flowers are found here, which is the western limit of this species’ range in Europe.

Legend has it that the plants grow on the graves of Viking warriors, with the flowers springing form their blood. They are found on earth works and mounds but this has more to do with this ground being difficult to plough and therefore the soil has remained undisturbed providing the perfect conditions for Pulsatilla vulgaris to grow.

It’s sad that such a beautiful native wildflower is struggling to survive. I posted last autumn about Plantlife’s Wildflower Count Survey that we did last April. It’s not too late to sign up for this year’s survey. We have just had our form through the post and will hopefully get a chance to get out over the Easter weekend. Anyone can join, you don’t have to live in the countryside, you could survey the hedgerow on the way to the allotment. It’s a great way to collect data so that more can be learnt about our native plants and how we can go about protecting them.

For more information about seeing Pasque flowers in the wild visit Escape to the Cotswolds, Hertfordshire Wildlife Trust and Natural England.

To take part in the Wildflower Count Survey visit Plantlife.

Wildflower Seed Winner

I would like to announce that Petra at the Oxonian Gardener has won the ‘Wildflower Seed Giveaway’. Congratulations, I’ll get them in the post to you this week. Look forward to hearing how they do.

Wildflower Seed Giveaway

Tags

perennials, Plantlife, Sarah Raven, wildflower seeds

Ox-eye daisies

I posted back in September about the charity Plantlife and the ‘wildflower count’ survey that I took part in. Well Plantlife and the drinks company Belvoir Fruit Farms have joined forces to offer everyone that took part in the survey a free packet of wildflower seeds.

I received my packet last week but I don’t really have anywhere I could sow them so I thought I’d offer them up to you. The packet of seeds contains Meadow Buttercup, Oxeye Daisy, Red Campion, Selfheal and Salad Burnet. These are all perennials. The packet comes with a leaflet on how and where to grow.

The only stipulations are that you are in the UK and the seeds must be grown in a garden and not sown in the wild.

I’ll set a closing date of Friday 24th November 6pm and if anyone is interested just leave a message with this post. If there’s more than one person then I’ll put the names in a hat and draw one name out and then send you the seeds.

Anyone who is interested in wildflowers should take a look at the Oxonian Gardener blog. Petra has written 2 parts of a 3 part series of posts about wildflowers including an interview with Sarah Raven.

Also for more information about Plantlife go to http://www.plantlife.org.uk/.

Saving our Wildflowers

Nature programmes on TV generally focus on animals, birds and insects. We are all aware about how many of these creatures are in danger in the wild but there is much less focus on our plantlife.

Most of us have heard stories of the fields of wildflowers that could once be found in the countryside but few of us have seen them. The use of herbicides and intensive farming has had a massive impact on our wildflower population. It seems easier for plants to slip away and become extinct and yet plants are so incredibly important.

Ragged Robin

The charity Plantlife is trying to change this in many ways including plant surveys called ‘Wildflower Counts’ that anyone can do. I signed up last Autumn and this Spring Plantlife sent out a survey pack. They designate you an area close to your home (you can change this if you want) and you can do a number of different types of survey from a 1km linear walk, a small grid or if you feel more confident you can become a super surveyor. You are provided with a small booklet of flowers for identification and you can survey the area as many times as you want between Spring and Autumn.

Wellyman and I did a 1km path on Easter Monday. The weather was lovely and we walked a small road that was no longer in use, recording the species we saw. It was a really enjoyable way to spend an afternoon and hopefully the information we and others give Plantlife will go some way to helping to record and protect our wildflowers. Its too late to do a survey this year but you can sign up for next year at Plantlife.