By reducing the amount of cutting in spring and summer, garden lawns can easily be converted into a spectacular display of pretty low-growing wildflowers. By introducing nectar and pollen rich native species, wildflower lawns provide a valuable habitat and food source for visiting Butterflies and Bees. Over the years many customers have asked us for advice about how to turn a lawn into a wildflower meadow and broadly speaking there are 2 completely different approaches. Read more
Ladies Bedstraw, a spectacular and useful wildflower for clay soil
Recognizing clay soils
Clay is a very common soil type and we are frequently asked which wildflowers will grow best on this type of soil. Clay soils are characterized by frequent water-logging in winter, and drying out in summer. In very dry weather clay soils will often bake and start to crack near the surface. Clay soils are usually hard to work and will stick to the soles of boots and other digging equipment.
Suitable Wildflowers for clay soils
Wildflowers that grow well on clay need to be tough and adaptable to the extreme conditions. Fortunately there are many native species available that meet these requirements and some popular wildflowers for clay include Lesser Knapweed, Oxeye Daisies, Birdsfoot trefoil, Cowslips, Meadow Buttercup, Yellow Rattle, Sorrel and Great Burnet.
Great Burnet
A more comprehensive list of wildflowers for clay can be found by visiting our homepage and entering the word “clay” into the search box at the top left of the screen. You will be presented with a list of suitable products, including many species that can be purchased through our website as individual wildflowers seeds.
Both mixtures contain an optimum of around 14 individual wildflower species. This is a well proven balance and has been carefully formulated to give best chances of success based on years of experience. Once established, mixtures will provide a spectacular display of perennial wildflowers every summer. If you would like to add instant color in the first season then it will be necessary to sow a crop of cornfield annual wildflowers as a nurse crop to the perennial mixture. For further information on how this may be achieved please click here.
Typically bitterly cold and wet with the strong possibility of snow and ice, February is the month that sees the first catkins begin to appear on Hazel, Goat willow and Alder trees. Look out for the first signs of spring with Celandines, Primroses, Sweet Violets, Snowdrops and Aconites appearing in woodlands and hedgerows. Read more
