The Lemon Fool

I have the same list of approved weeds...

I deliberately introduced purple toadflax a few years ago and hope to add Mallow as well. Collected poppy and Red Campion seeds earlier with the probably over optimistic idea of adding those as well.

Previous attempts at growing from seed have always sunk without trace, for which the finger of suspicion is pointed at slugs and snails. They seem to laugh at my ring of broken eggshells, and I don’t use pellets as I have frogs and birds.

I also have leafcutter bees, and wanted a closer source of nectar and pollen, hence the (failed) seed experiments.

madhatter wrote: and hope to add Mallow as well

Why do you want the mallow?

I'm fighting it a bit like ground elder. It comes up between the flowers we do want and is a real bu99er to shift. I mean, an 9" root stem?

Slarti

Something which really looked spectacular and brought in loads of orange bottomed bumble bees in summer was to have a bonfire in autumn, leave ashes to cool down, dig the ashes into the soil beneath the fire site then sow the sterilized area with the blue annual cornflower seeds. A second over sowing in spring gives a longer flowering season.

I'm not keen on Dandelions which spreads seeds into the borders and cultivated areas, and make deep tap rooted plants which are difficult to completely eradicate.

I have a largish area of long grass where the local meadow weeds are established - mainly Cat's Ears, Plantain, Trefoil and Knapweed. Cat's Ears is the local Dandelion equivalent, but seems to stay in the grass area, and is generally well behaved. To these I have added Ragged Robin, which appears to be spreading quite a bit, even though the soil is fairly dry - I thought Ragged Robin preferred damp areas. I have also bought a packet of Cowslip for raising next year. And Fox & Cubs pops up occasionally.

I got Red Campion in a packet of wildflower seed mixture, but it looks like it is becoming a bit of a thug, self sown seeds are sprouting over a large area.

Why do you want the mallow?

Something else that would be bright, flower for a long time, not need attention once established, and hold its own when beset by slugs would do. Not keen on dandelions as they will take over the grass areas. Also there is a long fence and hedge shading a long strip in which ivy has taken over completely at ground level, and it would be nice to find something to rise a bit above that.

Anything I have put in that disappears without trace! Good for the stag beetles, I suppose.

madhatter wrote:

Why do you want the mallow?

Something else that would be bright, flower for a long time, not need attention once established, and hold its own when beset by slugs would do. Not keen on dandelions as they will take over the grass areas. Also there is a long fence and hedge shading a long strip in which ivy has taken over completely at ground level, and it would be nice to find something to rise a bit above that.

Anything I have put in that disappears without trace! Good for the stag beetles, I suppose.

How about Welsh Poppy - it used to be called meconopsis cambrica, then I saw it called pseudo-meconopsis cambrica, and now the RHS seem to be (also) calling it papaver cambricum. Once in your garden it will produce copius volumes of seeds which will scatter around.

How about Welsh Poppy - it used to be called meconopsis cambrica

Still is called that in my recently purchased Collins Wild Flower Guide (2nd edition). It is certainly a thought, and with a longer flowering season than the long headed poppy, of which I collected several ripe seed heads a few months ago.