I think it's terribly important to pick wild flowers - in the wild. It's how you build relationship and interest. It's like collecting conkers, chasing lizards, watching tadpoles growing in a jar or building a den in the woods. It's about belonging, and we protect and feel passionate about what we feel we own. How much more joyful is spring when you come home from a walk with some pussy-willow, cowslips, nettle tops and wild garlic? It was a huge part of my childhood (in wild places) and I have nothing but delightful memories attached to it.
I have seen the same discussion about picking wild mushrooms in the woods, as nature lovers, not for commercial use (picking for sale is illegal in the uk). Some say too many are being taken, esp at the moment when foraging is trendy, inspired by posh restaurants. Wildlife Trust spokesmen say that picking is vital to encourage people/kids to get out into the woods and learn about it, poke about, learn identification and develop their passion. We can't value what we don't understand. I can see both sides. I picked mushrooms as a kid in France and the delights of coming home with family holding a basket of girolle - making omelettes together for dinner - what a lovely time it was. It all instilled in me a passion.
I always thought it was illegal to pick or dig up any wild flower since the 1970/980's. Can't remember the specific Act of Parliament. However, I'm guilty of picking a bit of cow parsley occasionally - there's lots round here.
When I was a child in London, we were lucky enough to have a bombsite where wild flowers grew alongside the survivors from the gardens of the houses that had been there. However many we picked, plenty grew in their place. The other place I could pick flowers was in the vast and splendid Finchley cemetery where my recent ancestors were laid to rest. I soon learned which flowers were fair game and which weren't. Now I'm retired, I volunteer in a local park, where I encourage children to identify the wild plants, such as horsetail, self-heal, dandelions, buttercups and daisies, ivy, bindweed..... More cultivated flowers are trampled by dogs than picked by children.
I'm often saddened on this forum by people posting for IDs on some of our most iconic plants, which are widely portrayed not just in gardening books or magazines, but on greetings cards, in literature, everyday language and even in advertising, or named on paint charts. I'm thinking of things such as forget-me nots, primroses, violets, foxgloves. Someone didn't even recognise bamboo, pretty much symbolic of all things oriental, including pandas and Chinese restaurants! This is a lack of general knowledge and sign of a poor education in my view. Nearly everyone has to do some English literature and poetry and Shakespeare are full of references to plants and flowers that have significant meanings in the context, as should have been explained. Some of these plant names are now being omitted from dictionaries, which shows just how far many have slipped from contact with the world outside their tech-y bubbles.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have seen the same discussion about picking wild mushrooms in the woods, as nature lovers, not for commercial use (picking for sale is illegal in the uk). Some say too many are being taken, esp at the moment when foraging is trendy, inspired by posh restaurants. Wildlife Trust spokesmen say that picking is vital to encourage people/kids to get out into the woods and learn about it, poke about, learn identification and develop their passion. We can't value what we don't understand. I can see both sides. I picked mushrooms as a kid in France and the delights of coming home with family holding a basket of girolle - making omelettes together for dinner - what a lovely time it was. It all instilled in me a passion.
I'm thinking of things such as forget-me nots, primroses, violets, foxgloves. Someone didn't even recognise bamboo, pretty much symbolic of all things oriental, including pandas and Chinese restaurants!
This is a lack of general knowledge and sign of a poor education in my view. Nearly everyone has to do some English literature and poetry and Shakespeare are full of references to plants and flowers that have significant meanings in the context, as should have been explained.
Some of these plant names are now being omitted from dictionaries, which shows just how far many have slipped from contact with the world outside their tech-y bubbles.