Hello folks,i got these seeds the other day! 'Suttons: Wildlife Garden, A mixture for shaded and semi-shaded areas seeds'
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now the packet doesnt give too much away,it says it contains foxglove,Columbine(what type would that be?)Oxslip and Wood Sage plus other wild flowers... now what would they be? has anybody ever grown these seeds? or would like to hazard a guess to what the "other" wild flowers might be? The last time i got a mixed packet it was full of ox-eye daisy,they got everywhere !!!id like a nice mix though and its an economical way of doing, as i have a large area to cover,so if you have any knowledge of these or can recommend other mixes any information would be great,thanks guys!
I don't know, but someone who lived here before me put out either a seed mix or a seeded mat for shady areas, and now the place is overrun with violets - can't get rid of 'em.
Hi CountryGent, just a point of interest, to get the best out of any wild flower selection, having constructed many a 'wild flower' area professionally, ive found the most important thing is to have a relatively poor soil !! This might sound strange but the reason is as follows. If you just grow these in a 'normal' top soil, what you'll find is that the more vigourous species tend to dominate and block out the less vigourous things, also eventually any grass within the area will also eventually spoil the effect. So in practice to achieve this, this is what I do !!, almost remove all the top soil, leaving just a couple of inches in which to germinate the seeds. The other benefit of doing this is that it restricts the ammount of foliage they produce and will increase the ratio of flower to growth ?? I'm sure that in the wild, this is why you see these woodlandwild flowers doing so much better as often the soil in which they are growing, is neither the best or indeed very deep !! Hope this helps?? As too exactly what is included, thats anyones guess?? One final point with reference to foxgloves, we here in Cornwall are surounded by them in late spring, whilst they are technically short lived perennials, in practice most tend to be annuals so this is what I would suggest you do !! if for example you ended up with 20 flowering plants, immedeately after flowering remove 15 of the flower spikes before thet set seed, this will ensure that those 15 will go on to make bigger and better plants for next year. The remaining 5, leave to set and mature the seed in thier spikes to ensure a continuity for subsequent years but, having spent most of thier energy in producing this seed, most will actually die !! Personally, I would adopt the same strategy for most of those species you mentioned, to ensure good strong plants for the following year!! best wishes, Lannerman
it can also help to weed it for the first few seasons until the perennials get established (it can take several years for some to reach maturity you don't want them crowded out by grasses and non-desired species).
my other notes to continue, it is important to verify before planting a mix of any kind that the species are not invasive for other areas that might be nearby.
we planted a mix years ago that included a low growing tiny blue flower and it's a bugger.
along with another package of seeds given to us by some store that i just threw in a bare spot. massively invasive and set a ton of seeds and i forgot that was what i did there until it was too late. it also happened to be upstream and upwind of many other gardens. been trying to keep it from taking over...
Thanks for the information folks,ill let you know how i get on and what finally comes up in the spring/summer It all seems so far away at the moment though !
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