Erin A - have you tried astilbes? They love dappled shade and lots of water but you mat have to improve your drainage. And Iris siberica would love your conditions. Then there are the mimulus species, filipendula, globe flowers, brown celandines,oh,so many lovely flowers for boggy conditions. Just have a look at the bog garden in the nearest botanic garden or take a walk along a river bank near you. Busy lizzies would probably give you colour for this summer.
hi there kate... could you give me some advice please, i have managed to buy a piece of land at the side of my garden,for the past few weeks ive had loads of work done to it,ie a very large lovely pergola, slabs put down and now the final thing is planting,my question is im going to put some turf down and ontop the turf when it is layed can i put wildflower seed on it ..or is it to late for seed to flower this year,plus not sure if the turfs will take if i put on seed .
happymarion...if you wish you could relpy...im thinking your a good gardener as you seem to know a lots of plant things...and i bet your garden is lovely.x
Sarah's pondlife. if you are aiming for a wildflower meadow turf is not the answer. A mixture of grass seed and wild flower seed could be sown now but you would have to remove the rich topsoil. If you do want to turf you could buy wildflower plug plants from say "Wiggly Wigglers", grow them on a little and plant them randomly in the turf. You need to let them seed themselves before you cut the grass. I'm not sure if it is possible to get a successful wild meadow this way. The team at the Bristol Botanic Garden are making a meadow featuring the wildflowers found on the Bristol Downs but it will not be seen in all itsglory for a year or two. At the moment the top soil has been removed so it is not too rich an environment for wild flowers. In the autumn there will be a seed collecting expedition to the Downs to collect seed, including some beauties like the Bristol onion and spotted orchids and yellow rattle which will keep the rank grasses in check. There is one other way. You can buy turf ready sown with wild flowers but this is expensive and the fun but longer way would be the way the Botanic Garden is doing it. My garden is a real joy at the moment and only the wild flowers need no watering from me.
I spent far too much time watching a fledgling blackbird yesterday which was hiding in the potentilla instead of doing useful things! I did get my sweet peas planted out and some lily bulbs planted but have lost a big escallonia to the winter weather so this weekend coming have a fun job trying to remove it!
Sarah's pondlife - do what happymarion says! If you want a wildflower meadow you will need to remove the top layer of soil as it is too rich for wildflowers (unless there are already wildflowers growing there?). Grass can smother wildflowers so I wouldn't advise you to sow wildflower seed, especially in turf.
If I were you I would first sow some wildflower seeds in plugs, so they become plug plants. (Do you get Gardeners' World Magazine? There is a project on making wildflower plugs in the April issue.) Or buy them from reputable suppliers, like Wiggly Wigglers as happymarion suggests, or Habitat Aid.
While the plugs are growing on, remove the top layer of soil, exposing the subsoil beneath (which is usually lighter in colour), then plant the plugs and sow grass seed at the same time, to give the plugs a head start. Include yellow rattle in the wildflower mix as it suppresses grass growth, helping the wildflowers thrive. Annual wildflowers should flower this year if you're quick, while perennial ones will flower next year if you sow them now. Hope this helps!
Lovely to read all your comments, I hope you all got your jobs done. My garden is finished (for now!).
Happymarion – that sounds lovely. Your friend seems very sensible, unlike me, trying to create a perennial cottage garden in a tiny space, and then getting cross with the plants that aren’t in flower all of the time!
Babs – the tadpoles should be gone by late-summer, but some do remain over winter. Do you really need to clean your pond out? It’s healthy to have a layer of sludge at the bottom for frogs and other creatures to overwinter in, a long as there are plenty of oxygenating plants in the water. Dead leaves and other debris should be removed as these can release noxious gasses when they decompose.
Didi1975 – I once visited a house where the owners had grown some grass in a shallow wooden box, for their pet rabbit. Alternatively, you could remove the flag stones, sand and builders’ rubble and import topsoil and turf your yard, like I did. The grass might struggle in deep shade though… Plants good for shade include foxgloves, hellebores, honesty, cranesbill geraniums, Japanese anemones, hebe. Good luck!
Gardeninglily – it certainly sounds like drastic action is needed! Established wisterias will survive anything, as happymarion says. Take a look at our fact sheet on pruning wisteria
Sculinky – I have that problem too. I keep checking how many frogs are in the pond, and going indoors so the blackbird can forage for grubs. But it’s all pat of gardening, and makes it much more enjoyable!
hi kate and happymarion,many thanks to both of you for your advice,,,its not as easy as i thought doing a wildflower area,,,however i will still try,my main garden is a cottage garden and at the moment it looks glorious [if i do say so myself],its just doing the new side bit of land and i want to carry on the theme but hopefully in a week or so it should all be done... mind you today i decided to do another pond ...digging in this heat [not good]. but doing gardening is always worth while.
oh and kate i didnt get any frogspawn this year....very disappointed.
tut tut kate and happymarion i forgot to say in my last blog,i went onto the wiggly wiggers web-site,and i spent a fortune on plants,seeds and bug boxes....[naughty naughty].
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could you give me some advice please,
i have managed to buy a piece of land at the side of my garden,for the past few weeks ive had loads of work done to it,ie a very large lovely pergola, slabs put down and now the final thing is planting,my question is im going to put some turf down and ontop the turf when it is layed can i put wildflower seed on it ..or is it to late for seed to flower this year,plus not sure if the turfs will take if i put on seed .
happymarion...if you wish you could relpy...im thinking your a good gardener as you seem to know a lots of plant things...and i bet your garden is lovely.x
If I were you I would first sow some wildflower seeds in plugs, so they become plug plants. (Do you get Gardeners' World Magazine? There is a project on making wildflower plugs in the April issue.) Or buy them from reputable suppliers, like Wiggly Wigglers as happymarion suggests, or Habitat Aid.
While the plugs are growing on, remove the top layer of soil, exposing the subsoil beneath (which is usually lighter in colour), then plant the plugs and sow grass seed at the same time, to give the plugs a head start. Include yellow rattle in the wildflower mix as it suppresses grass growth, helping the wildflowers thrive. Annual wildflowers should flower this year if you're quick, while perennial ones will flower next year if you sow them now. Hope this helps!
Kate
Happymarion – that sounds lovely. Your friend seems very sensible, unlike me, trying to create a perennial cottage garden in a tiny space, and then getting cross with the plants that aren’t in flower all of the time!
Babs – the tadpoles should be gone by late-summer, but some do remain over winter. Do you really need to clean your pond out? It’s healthy to have a layer of sludge at the bottom for frogs and other creatures to overwinter in, a long as there are plenty of oxygenating plants in the water. Dead leaves and other debris should be removed as these can release noxious gasses when they decompose.
Didi1975 – I once visited a house where the owners had grown some grass in a shallow wooden box, for their pet rabbit. Alternatively, you could remove the flag stones, sand and builders’ rubble and import topsoil and turf your yard, like I did. The grass might struggle in deep shade though… Plants good for shade include foxgloves, hellebores, honesty, cranesbill geraniums, Japanese anemones, hebe. Good luck!
Gardeninglily – it certainly sounds like drastic action is needed! Established wisterias will survive anything, as happymarion says. Take a look at our fact sheet on pruning wisteria
Sculinky – I have that problem too. I keep checking how many frogs are in the pond, and going indoors so the blackbird can forage for grubs. But it’s all pat of gardening, and makes it much more enjoyable!
mind you today i decided to do another pond ...digging in this heat [not good].
but doing gardening is always worth while.
oh and kate i didnt get any frogspawn this year....very disappointed.