Wild flower patch

ours came with us from the UK- and the seeds 'explode' out of the pods, just like borage. I love both, but they do have to be controlled- wear gloves with the alkanet though, pruned some today and hands were full of little 'thorns' ...

I've just googled green alkanet images and it looks like what I thought was borage?

We have green alkanet too. I love the blue of the flowers. It's no more invasive than many another plant in our garden. If you have enough variety of 'invaders', they work well together . There is very little bare soil in my garden. If I do clear a patch certain species jump into it immediately, eg. foxgloves

I love buttercups. The meadow variety has taken over our boggy lawn but so have soft and compact rushes, star sedges and sharp-flowered rushes. Yellow flags are joining in, red clover, yellow pimpernel, lesser celandine, lady's smock, sorrel, dock.... The list goes on.

Most recent 'invader' (or is it gentle immigrant?) is Libertia grandiflora. That can take over too if it wants.

I haven't yet counted the 'invasive' species in my garden but I reckon it could be at least a quarter of them.

I've just been into the field that's next to us to pick a grass sample to identify and had the loveliest experience. On the way up to the top of the garden I saw Meadow Brown butterflies and Ringlets, then, as I stepped out into the field, several Ringlets rose from the tall grasses and 'weeds' at almost every step. It was wonderful!

The other thing to beware of is Green alkanet. I thought oo that's pretty but it's taken over the garden and now it's official name chez nous is More Bloody Green Alkanet. I fell in love with toad flax when I first came Oop north and I allowed it too much leeway. Now it's tethered a bit more. Ditto honesty.

Good tip about Yellow Rattle, it is semi-parasitic. Beware buttercups, they will take over.

Nice article by Jo Cartmell in The Ecologist about leaving Nature in charge of her garden wildflower meadow.

Falconbird, I couldn't post any photos from my iPad when the new system started but eventually was able to by downloading an app to resize them. It's about time I tried it again.

Many pretty wildflowers grow well on low nutrient soils where grasses don't thrive. If you want to make an area less grassy and more flowery get hold of some yellow rattle seeds. This little flower will suck up the nutrients that grasses love and leave room for other things to flourish.

Not sure why my pics won't take. They've gone through on Fb and on friends' e mails I'll keep trying.

But that doesn't apply to pictures - smaller is better.

I agree with the idea of quantity. The more you chuck on the more chance of germination.

Falcon maybe they are a little too big to load just a thought

No luck with the photo. They appeared on the screen but I couldn't send them. It's a shame because we could exchange wildflower photos. I just get continuous buffering.

My son had spectacular success with a wildflower garden. I've tried to post a photo on the other site, but with no success. He had a really beautiful display but unfortunately a lot of rape seeds were in the mix and they're trying to overwhelm the Moon Daisies, poppies etc.,

He also has some Foxglove seeds given to him by a neighbour.

He puts his success with the wildflowers down to quantity. He scattered loads and loads and the result is really beautiful.

I will try again with the photo.

I have been seeding some wasteland for the last few years. It used to just be a scruffy litter strewn patch which was overrun with brambles, nettles and the sticky plant (don't know what it is but it sticks to everything). DH and I started by clearing the litter then I cut back the brambles but not kill them. I didn't want to get rid of the nettles either because of the butterflies etc. The idea was to add new plants without getting rid of the plants that were already there because it already supported an eco system. So I just chucked (still chuck) seeds onto the land every so often. If they take then they're meant to be there and if they don't they're not.

I know there are foxgloves growing but I have no idea what the other plants are. However the mix of pink, white, purple and blue whatevers seem to please the bees and butterflies. My neighbours seem happier with it too and there is far less litter to womble. In fact I think the only litter now is blown in on windy days.

Foxgloves are lovely flowers and very attractive to bees, so I grow them in my garden too. It's important to remember they are biannuals, so to ensure you get flowers every year you need to have some at both stages.

Ox-eye daisies I know nothing about, but have great success with wild poppies, wild garlic, cornflowers and other native species. Make sure you include some perennials too.

Good luck.

Wildflower seeds don't 'take' well everywhere. The grassland species in particular often prefer a not very fertile soil, so scattering them in fertile garden soil is not likely to succeed.

From one or two orange hawkweed flowers in my garden nine years ago simply left to set their own seed, I now have a huge number of them dotted all over three-quarters of an acre. All I did was let them get on with life on their own.

I've done this with many wild species in my garden and had similar results.

Thank you for your helpful replies. Logically copying nature should work but I'll keep some seeds back for Spring just in case. I like the idea of the bombs, thank you for that Vampire queen.
I only saw part of the Autistic Gardener, but did see the lying down man. There is something similar at Heligan called the Mud Maid. Did the programme go on to say how the lying down man was made?
Lovely to see a more naturalistic approach to gardens, and also grass verges now that councils have to cut back on maintenance.

I thought it was lovely to see all the gardeners being valued and given a feeling of self worth.

I loved The Autistic Gardener. Eat your heart out, Mr. Titchmarsh with your over landscaped, high maintenance gardens. It was a joy to watch.

I bet they ditched all that camouflage netting though.

waits patiently in the garden for the flower bombs to arrive

Try making seed bombs. You mix seeds and compost together with a little water to make it sticky then form into balls. You then throw them where you want them to grow. The extra nutrients in the compost can help.

I'd scatter some now but leave some seeds at one side in a brown paper bag until the spring and then put them out then, see which ones take best. You can always get some seeds off the ones which do take and scatter again next year at a time which has worked best.

I scattered some in Spring and they have come up lovely, some going to seed a little now, the poppies. I have left the grass to grow, it moves about lovely in the breeze/wind. So many people want to cut it down but I like to see it as nature would have it. I am going to take up sections and plant some more wildflower seeds and so that eventually it makes a meadow. I have done a seating area in a different part of my garden, making it into a fairy garden with fairy lights, plants and trees from my other home, driftwood and a tree stump and some fairies and a unicorn and my tiny minions.

Did anyone see the Autistic Gardener? The lying down man which they made was absolutely brilliant and something which I have never seen before. Looking forward to seeing next week's programme.

Our local park has wild flower banks around it and last year I collected lots of seed to scatter in a border but not one grew I am at a loss to know why.. I scattered them as I collected them late in the Summer.