SUCCEEDING WITH SELF-SEEDERS
How to make these bountiful plants work for you
THERE’S so much to celebrate about footloose and fancy-free self-seeders. These plants are annuals, biennials or perennials that simply scatter copious amounts of seed. For this reason, they pop up everywhere and, once you’ve planted them, you find that you tend to have them forever.
Most gardeners are grateful to self-seeders for their ease. They produce free plants, and they position themselves in inventive places that can lead to an unexpected display. However, they are like mischievous children who do whatever they choose and on occasion must be controlled. Control is the key to having success with these plants. It’s up to you to edit out those that overstep the mark.
Many of these efficient plants have picked up a bad reputation for being invasive, but without them our gardens would be very contrived. A few selfseeders mixed with your better-behaved ornamentals will create full borders where plants merge and cushion each other in a natural way. It is these we must thank for the large drifts and swathes of natural planting that so many of us aspire to create.
Self-seeders should also be praised for their fundraising skills. It’s these plants that raise lots of money for charity as they are the ones that are plentiful enough to pot up and sell on for a good cause. As the old saying goes, ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’.
Right plant, right place
If a self-seeder has germinated and formed a healthy plant, it is likely to have found the perfect place to thrive. This explains why, in some gardens, a plant will become very prominent and in others not so. When I gardened on a sandy soil in Dorset, Verbena bonariensis sprung up everywhere, but in my heavy clay border in Herefordshire I can’t get even one plant to survive.
My garden is made more enchanting thanks to self-seeders. Over the years the fritillaries have created enviable drifts near the pond and the giant
Inula racemosa stands like a row of soldiers along the edge of my garden path. In this gravel path erynguims self-seed and I quickly whip them up and pot them on before they get trodden on. Alchemilla mollis makes a home between gaps in the paving, and the species tulip, Tulipa sprengeri, is positively abundant after years of self-seeding.
The self-seeder year in my plot starts In March with the biennial Smyrnium perfoliatum adding a vibrant lime-green to the borders, which is quickly followed by foxgloves and then aquilegia. This
early summer symphony all started with the purchase of three plants and cost me about £20, so what’s not to like about that?
rooting power
When choosing to grow prevalent selfseeders it’s worth finding out how they root. Many are easy to lift and pull up, such as Nassella tenuissima, forget-menots, Leucanthemum vulgare (ox-eye daisies), primulas and hardy geraniums. All these have fairly shallow roots and can be easily removed, when young, from a border with a hand trowel. It’s those with a tap root such as Inula racemosa and comfrey that are hard to lift and can become a nuisance.
If you decide that you no longer want to share your garden with a particular self-seeder, be aware that the seed can sit in the soil for many years before germinating. You might think you have weeded out the culprit, but don’t be surprised to see a few more plants to germinate the following year.
On balance, I’m all for sharing the garden with self-seeders. All the best things in life are unplanned and unexpected, and these plants allow me to pick guilt-free bunches for my vases.