I think you're right to go with some natives.Yes, any single flower is good for the bees and butterflies but what are the larvae going to eat? Butterfly and moth larvae will want the right food plants and they'll be native for the most part.
I totally agree nut. While I continue to grow some tender annuals like cosmos in tubs near the house, I'm trying to grow more native wildflowers particularly with host plant/moth and butterfly larvae in mind.
After all, plants native to these islands have evolved alongside the insects they play host to. But...non natives can indeed provide nectar by the bucketful, buddleja for instance and the aforementioned lavender
English lavender arrived with the Romans as did English apples and all sorts of other English fruit, veg and herbs.
In those days England and Wales were largely forested and I assume much of Scotland too but changing weather and human intervention has led to forest clearing, moorland creation for hunting partridge and grouse and deer, lowland draining for growing non native cereals and so on.
How far back do you want to go to get native and just have trees, bracken and brambles in your garden?
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
In evolutionary terms, gardening purely for pleasure and decoration is very recent. Before then it was about growing herbs for medicines and food to eat. Gardening for pleasure took off when the growing middle classes wanted pleasure gardens which had, hitherto, been solely for the nobility with space and money to indulge.
Plants have been brought here for centuries and even millennia by invaders and migrants and traders and then by plant hunters and importers serving a market.
I spend hours weeding out creeping buttercup, fat hen, nettles, bindweed, thistles, bittercress, couch grass, groundsel, iris pseudocorus and boggy sedges because they are invasive and ugly and I want colour and form from plants with more visual interest throughout the year to provide food and habitat for wildlife.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I don't think there's any plant racism going on here and we are all free to choose what we grow in our gardens. As I've stated, I've got cosmos growing in my tubs outside the back door. Zinnia too...mimulus and lobelia cardinalis in the pond.
I think the point trying to be made is what is native through the eyes of a caterpillar, rather than relating to the cultural and historical influences of us humans. I don't think there's many European moths or butterflies that use cosmos as the host plant for their larvae, I may be wrong.
When is best time to sow wildflower seeds, I have been given seeds from a friend who has a patch of wildflowers from seed supplied by bbc program, Countryfile last year. The only flower i can name amongst them is the red poppy, can anyone advise please ?
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I don't think any lavendars are UK natives.
I think you're right to go with some natives.Yes, any single flower is good for the bees and butterflies but what are the larvae going to eat? Butterfly and moth larvae will want the right food plants and they'll be native for the most part.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I totally agree nut. While I continue to grow some tender annuals like cosmos in tubs near the house, I'm trying to grow more native wildflowers particularly with host plant/moth and butterfly larvae in mind.
After all, plants native to these islands have evolved alongside the insects they play host to. But...non natives can indeed provide nectar by the bucketful, buddleja for instance and the aforementioned lavender
English lavender arrived with the Romans as did English apples and all sorts of other English fruit, veg and herbs.
In those days England and Wales were largely forested and I assume much of Scotland too but changing weather and human intervention has led to forest clearing, moorland creation for hunting partridge and grouse and deer, lowland draining for growing non native cereals and so on.
How far back do you want to go to get native and just have trees, bracken and brambles in your garden?
In evolutionary terms the Romans were here yesterday
In the sticks near Peterborough
In evolutionary terms, gardening purely for pleasure and decoration is very recent. Before then it was about growing herbs for medicines and food to eat. Gardening for pleasure took off when the growing middle classes wanted pleasure gardens which had, hitherto, been solely for the nobility with space and money to indulge.
Plants have been brought here for centuries and even millennia by invaders and migrants and traders and then by plant hunters and importers serving a market.
I spend hours weeding out creeping buttercup, fat hen, nettles, bindweed, thistles, bittercress, couch grass, groundsel, iris pseudocorus and boggy sedges because they are invasive and ugly and I want colour and form from plants with more visual interest throughout the year to provide food and habitat for wildlife.
I don't think there's any plant racism going on here and we are all free to choose what we grow in our gardens. As I've stated, I've got cosmos growing in my tubs outside the back door. Zinnia too...mimulus and lobelia cardinalis in the pond.
I think the point trying to be made is what is native through the eyes of a caterpillar, rather than relating to the cultural and historical influences of us humans. I don't think there's many European moths or butterflies that use cosmos as the host plant for their larvae, I may be wrong.
Your right Fishy, I grow modern imports as well but I like to keep the other residents happy. Mopst of them were here before me
In the sticks near Peterborough
When is best time to sow wildflower seeds, I have been given seeds from a friend who has a patch of wildflowers from seed supplied by bbc program, Countryfile last year. The only flower i can name amongst them is the red poppy, can anyone advise please ?
Now would be my choice
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thanks nutcutlet, will flash over with the flame thrower first, cremate any unwanted seeds that might be there already