Pam’s tips for growing wild flowers
would advise anyone inspired by it to make a smaller, more manageable garden. The secret to success, she says, is to use plants that suit their soil as well as those that host lots of insect-life.
Food for people and birds
A smaller, narrow path leads to the working area of the garden. Here there are greenhouses and chickens. Raised beds brim with herbs and decorative vegetables, all grown organically. Red orach makes a delicious salad. Its self-sown, dark red leaves punctuate the bed alongside a quirky ironwork face. Scented flowering shrubs mingle with the fruiting thickets. Creeping stalks of Clerondendron bungei bear large corymbs of richly scented pink flowers in late summer. The deep green leaves have purple-red backs, and when touched exude a somewhat unpleasant bitter smell. Peppery-scented drifts of white border phlox fill the air with spice. Tall thin spires of Veronicastrum virginicum combine with the white form of native rosebay willowherb. Pam is developing a new-found passion for ornamental grasses. Cultivated forms of native species such as purple moor grass Molinia caerulea and Deschampsia cespitosa echo the wild grasses of the neighbouring ancient grassland.
Home for wildflowers
Wildflowers do best where soil fertility is minimal, as found on downland, for example. Limestone or gravel are ideal substrates. Only seeds of certified British provenance should be sown. Even better are those that have been sourced locally and responsibly. Autumn sowing is usually more successful than spring sowing. Vigorous grasses are usually too competitive for all but the most robust of wild flowers. Yellow rattle (left) is a semi-parasitic plant that can depress the growth of grasses. This gives the wildflowers an advantage. The use of chemical fertilisers and herbicides is avoided. Mowing is necessary at least annually, always removing the cut grass, which forms a damaging mulch if left to decompose. A few areas are left uncut for overwintering insect larvae and seed for birds. Unwanted vegetation such as docks are best dug up in spring when the ground is soft. Nineteen years ago, Pam and Peter started what is perhaps their greatest achievement, a native meadow. Rich soil encourages grasses too bossy and invasive for the weaker wild flowers. A poorer, well-drained site favours a more species-rich environment, allowing space for wild flowers to self-sow. Work began by excavating a 6-8in (15-20cm) layer of topsoil with the aid of a JCB. It was dumped in a mound at the corner of the field. “This huge ecological disruption would never have been contemplated had we not been utterly convinced that the ends would justify the means,” says Pam. The mound became known as Mount Wicket and provided rich grazing for their goats. Families of little voles settled there. In their turn these encouraged the population of owls that inhabit the surrounding woodland. The fertile soil and goat droppings led to crops of nettles.