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purple loosestrife and ragged robin
peter kinsey
Posts: 10
I have been trying to grow Purple Loosestrife and Ragged Robin for about ten years,I live in an area where there is heavy clay, sucessfully established Water Avens,Flag Iris,Fleabane and Greater Birds Foot Trefoil, so can't understand why I have been unable to establish those two species!
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Hi Peter
Does your heavy clay dry out in summmer?
Some plants have a very low tolerance of different soils and conditions. Ragged Robin is probably one of them, I grow it, collect its seeds and grow again and am never without it but it hasn't established itself, even by the pond. Purple loosestrife never moves far from the pond edge so I assume it doesn't like dry soil.
Flag iris seeds into some most unlikely places, eg dry shade and grows there but doesn't look great.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Both the plants mentioned need reliably moist soil, they will even grow as marginals. As Nutcutlet suggests maybe your heavy clay dries out in summer.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Peter -I had the yellow variety of loosestrife next to a pond where it was always moist so think purple one is probably the same as punkdoc says.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I had purple loosetrife on the margins of my unlined pond and have had to work hard to eradicate it. It's invasive and not especially attractive. Try growing eupatorium instead as it's excellent for insects and better behaved.
I have yellow and white (gooseneck) loosetrife growing elsewhere in dryer soil and happily expanding. I keep the yellow one under control as it's not my favourite and I regularly dig up clumps of the white to give to friends.
Obelixx I don't like loosestrife either I have to admit-especially the purple one as it reminds me of rosebay willow herb- my personal top of the 'weed hate list'! I think the previous owners of the house I was talking about thought it was a 'nice flower' . It was everywhere and I spent countless hours eradicating and keeping on top of it.
The yellow one had a fair bit of competition from other things so it was ok to control.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you very much for those bits of advice,I have had a lot of sucess with HempAgrimony which as Oberlixx suggested is terrific for wildlife.
Best of luck with that Holliehock, I have some Ragged Robin plugs arriving shortly also some seeds, so I will try them probably one last time.As for others,I might try Marsh Woundwort instead of P.L or something else.