native woodland flowers

Hi all,

I am renovating a small woodland and once i have cleared all the brambles, nettles and willow herb and quite a few of the roses and ash... i would like to plant/sow some lovely native flowers. It is a gully, which is quite wet at the bottom and fairly dry on the sides.

Does anyone have any spare seed of woodland native plants - I am thinking along the lines of primrose, bluebell, convallaria, helleborus foetidus, ajuga, arum, gagea, oxalis... i could go on

alternatively, does anyone know a good (very) cheap supplier of native plants and seeds, or an organisation who might be able to help?

thanks

Emily

 

Before you spend your money, I suggest you wait to see what happens once you clear the stuff you plan to clear. You may well find that many species you want to plant are already in there, just waiting for a chance to grow, which you'll be giving them by removing the competition.

 

hi clueless,

you're right, i hadn't thought of that...

but i have to confess that a lot of the herbaceous weeds will be shifted by glyphosate this year, which will also kill off anything else - so i was hoping to get some seeds started off to plant out next year

 

Glyphosate wont touch any seeds that are in the ground, such as those that might[/b] be left over from when the plants you want might have been there before.

I wanted to increase diversity on my land, and I looked at all the seed options. It was insanely expensive to do the lot in one go, so I didn't get round to it. Having cleared loads of bracken and gorse, and mowed and raked the grass, I was surprised to see all sorts of flowers popping up. I guess they'd been there all along, but had just lost the battle to the more vigorous plants.

Once you let sunlight reach the soil, I bet you'll be surprised at what pops up.

 

If you time it right all the bulbs will have gone dormant .. certainly the Spring flowering ones, and probably Bluebells too if you leave it late enough.

 

Hi chan2,

I'm not sure how much I could actually help as I've never collected seeds of the plants you mentioned, to add to the fact that I don't live in your country. :D
However, I also have a woodland place to struggle with: shady, acidic, lots of moisture retention, but not boggy.
In addition to seeds, why don't you look around for some bulbs, such as scilla, corydalis, erythroniums or sanguinaria canadensis?

Once you've finished clearing, I could send you seeds of allium ursinum (which will spread itself and is also edible). I could also give you roots of stellaria holostea, sometime after June. It makes a lovely display of delicate white flowers in spring, lasts for something like three weeks or more and I love it! This is what t looks like in my garden:

​

I also have asarum, Solomon's seal and brunnera macrophylla (non-variegated) spreading in some dark corners and can send you roots if you like. Daphne mezereum will make a lovely (non-herbaceous) addition to your flowering group, too, although I can offer none of that.

Last autumn, I planted some variegated arum, but don't know how far it will make it this season.

If you don't find many of these within a walking distance around your neighbourhood, just write me a PM. I'll make a list and send you whatever comes to mind (I have more to offer, but can't be bothered to list it... ) I don't know how trustworthy the postage will be, but we can give it a try.

Good luck and enjoy your gardening experience!

 

Amenity Seed Products - Wild Flowers: 100% Wild Flower Mixtures | BSH

but it's not cheap

 

After clearing an area that had been overgrown for many years I had orchids, bluebells, cowslips and all sorts of other stuff coming up making it a devil of a job to mow without damaging anything and I had sticks marking precious plants all over the place.

 

I have wild violets coming up all over the place!

 

From my walk in the wood yesterday...









Corydalis, scilla and erythroniums were a breathtaking beauty!

 

Nice offers from people, but don't plant Allium ursinum, or you will spend forever getting rid of it and nothing much else will grow.
If you still need seeds later on PM me and I will collect some Wood Anemone seeds for you from ours. And I have Primula veris, elatior and their cross available, again in a couple of weeks or so.

 

Hi all,

sorry I have been away from this thread for so long - been getting stuck into the allotment...

we have done some clearance on the area and i moved some snowdrops down there a few weeks ago. I am not hopeful about anything very interesting appearing now some light can get through (apart from giant hogweed ) as the woodland is not very old - I believe it was planted about 20 years ago and previous to that the site was a bit of a tip. But we will wait and see what happens this year.......

Hi Angelina - looking at the photos of the woodland near you I might be tempted into a rethink about this native thing... thanks for your generous offer of seeds and roots, will pm you about it

Palustris re. the allium ursinum - definitely an invasive pain but delicious wilted and served with pasta - nom nom..... would love some primula and wood anemone - thanks so much

Emily

 

There's one thing in a woodland that is always breath taking and it's mass plantings, could be of anything but they never cease to create a fantastic spectacle

 

very true aesculus, i would be happy with a bluebell wood, but although there are a few patches of bluebells already - they don't seem to be spreading....
unlike everywhere else in the garden, where they are a pain in the.....

 

. My Damson wood was a lot of a tip, the soil is a nice mix of broken glass. scrap metal and leaf mould. The thousands of Snowdrops like it though.
Ok send me a message to remind me and I will send you some rhizomes of anemone. Be about another month before they go dormant.