Wildflowers becoming extinct

I was reading about this in an RHS mag earlier, just thought i'd put a link up.

http://www.plantlife.org.uk/about_us/news_press/britains_vanishing_flowers/

 

Trouble is what to do about it. I bought 3 acres of land with the intention of providing somewhere chemical free for endangered species to thrive. I did my research and found that you're not actually even allowed to grow some of the most vulnerably species, unless you jump through lots of hoops and get special permits.

My original goal was to nurture native wild flowers, and then try to promote the idea that they are perfectly fine in the domestic garden. Colossal amounts of red tape put paid to that plan though.

Unfortunately I think the very same laws that are meant to protect endangered plants are potentially hindering them.

 

That's a very good point Ci liew les wan.

Might get in touch with the plantlife people & see if we can get a dialog going about this on GC

 

That's a most excellent idea. When I first took on my piece of land I emailed the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to tell them of my grand ambition. I got a reply from a chap who signed off as Dr Ben Darvill. I assumed he was just a junior boffin that had only just earned his title. The top bod isn't going to reply to random emails surely. I found out a couple of weeks later by pure chance, having seen him on the news, that he is one of the world's top boffins on insect biology and conservation.

My point is, sometimes its worth having a go. Sometimes the right people are actually listening.

 

Interesting article there, I bought a pack of "wildflowers" from the nursery the other day, now in fairness Im not actually sure what is British, infact none of the species named could be, but one pack has maybe 20 different types, I was just going to make a small area and sow them, see how it turns out.

Ahave yous got a better idea or way I should do it? we live on farmland so I need to be very careful about sprays and where I place hem of course

 

I posted last year about "Wildflower seeds" I had bought, on the packet it said in small print "Do not sow in the wild"

Spruce

 

The link makes it sound as though the Queen is personally going into the countryside and spraying wild flowers with weed killer!

 

I had a thought over the weekend that the government should try and sow wildflowers with the grass that they sow on the sides of all motorways, A roads and B roads. Especially the newly construced ones. How hard could it be really?

Imagine all those square miles of wildflowers all over the country instead of a grassy monoculture?!

 

I agree , but what would help if they didn't cut them till late August when they have finished flowering and set seed, the A48 not far from me was full of plants in flower all along the road verges and the council have been along and cut them all down just when all the bees/butterflies and bumble's needed them the most with the coldest spring on record !

Spruce

 

That's a good idea. I live near to Birmingham airport and at the moment it is being extended and all the road system on the A45 is changing. I bet they could get a couple if miles of wildflower verges in there.

Rusty

 

My other thought is that they are so close to the traffic , they end up getting splattered on the cars .

Spruce

 

Yes I thought the same too and in turn the birds that eat the bugs. Could get messy.

 

Its already being done in some areas. While we were at large over the last few days I say lots of motorway verges full of flowers.

Round our way they do it near some of the 'ordinary' roads too.

I think its great, but I also have reservations about encouraging the bees to forage near busy roads. I'm no expert but it seems to me they fly at very low altitude, low enough to get splatted on car windscreens if they try to get from one verge to the other. There's inevitably some balance between benefit and risk. If more bees survive because of the extra foraging territory, then great, but if more get splatted, then not great. It would be interesting to know if anyone has ever done a study along these lines.