Topic: Waste Not Want Not

[KevB]

Just an idea I've been using for a while and thought I should share it, just in case plants are being wasted! Quite simple, if you're getting shut of a perennial plant or bulbs etc. then replant if possible on waste land or similar (bulbs are great by a roadside)! so others can see it in flower, which brightens you're surroundings whilst also making it available for someone else to recover for their own garden!

p.s. sorry to the GArden Centres!! NOT!!

[ACE]

Nice idea but!  Some of these plants can be very intrusive and be the equivilant of a herbal grey squirrel.

Mind you I live in a very pretty place that has all the wild flowers you could possibly want. An inner city area that will eventually be developed might be the place.

[JRP]

 ;D Hi Ace,what a good idea ,people could also do that with out of date seeds of the flowering kind,grass seeds take all right,I can't see to many problem with spinkling a few old flower seeds about,Mother nature will do the rest to brighten somewhere up,just like she grows things in the wild. John. J.R.P.  ;D

[Gillysdad]

I sprinkled some marigold seed at the entrance to our allotment, they are coming up nicely, all I have to do now is catch the person who is reversing over them. >:(

[caroline7758]

Or you could freecycle them!

[cardinalflower]

Or you could pop them in a nice pot and give it away as a nice pressie!  :D

[fluffygrue]

I'd recommend against planting them in the wild - better Freecycle or offer them on here. I absolutely hate going for a walk in the woods and seeing things like Pampas grasses and cultivated hardy geraniums. They look competely out of place, and often out-compete the native species.

..but if you mean planting them on unused land, wasteland, traffic islands.. fair enough. (Unless they're tall plants or trees, which might be a bit stupid.)

[KevB]

It was meant for wasteland NOT woodland!

[Andy H]

I have thought of that before, bird seed on grass verges etc.
Didn`t think about native stuff but nature normally wins through.

[petuariapete]

It's called guerrilla gardening!

People (individuals and groups) go, usually  illicitly, and sort out a suitable waste site, roundabout,verge, etc, often under the cover of darkness, and tidy it up and transform it with plants. Much to the surprise of passers by the next day!

Here is a link to one UK site...http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

[timelady]

You could offer them to local schools or nurseries too? Or if you know a teacher. Kids would love to see a bit of a garden they made. :)

Tina.

[machman5]

I just looked at the guerilla gardening link!   Cool!   ;D
I never knew this sort of thing went on, what a great idea.  I used to live in London and boy, could Canning Town do with some Guerilla warfare!
Donna

[sunloving]

Please don't do it!

I work in the environment and heritage service and the second biggest problem threatening native species (after habiatat loss) whether in grassland, parks or scrub is non native species. they outcompete the natives they bring diseases they alter the environments ability to cycle nutrients and we spend millions of pounds a year trying to remove them.
some of the very worst culprits are escapes from gardens
himalayan balsam, japanease knotweed, ground elder, canadian pondweed, giant hogweed, rhododenderon
so please please think twice about planting anything that isnt native to the uk outside of the space that you control, becuase it might still be there and spreading long after youve gone.

[Andy H]

I understand what you are saying but are non evasive plants a problem in un-used spaces of waste land???

Things are changing anyway???

Interested though....

[sunloving]

Waste land used to be colonised by native species and be a haven for wildlife in urban areas, what you get now is buddleia, oxford ragwort japanease knotweed all non natives which can colonise faster becuase they are really brilliant at germinating and growing fast and outshading native speices.

You might argue that well its already terrible so wheres the harm.
The gardener in me wants to see lovely flowing plants that will be host to all sorts of native insects.

 But the real problem is that once a species has a hold in a patch it can spread outwards especially those that produce windborn seeds and runners (japanese knotweed, ground elder). and its actually quite hard to predict which plant will rocket. for instance the himalayan balsam is really rare in its home range which is just a couple of  thousand km in the high himalayas, but in europe its dominating tens if not hundreds of thousands of km espeically along river banks (a habitat nowhere near that which it ususally grows in). which we just couldnt have predicated.

Sorry to be raining on a lovely idea but the price of planting even on wasteland might be threats to native species.

[Andy H]

ok thanks for that, I will think before I sow :D

Best keep and eye on my bamboo then :-X

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you're going to, only plant species which are known not to be invasive! There are only a few real nasties, and it's easy to spot potential pests as they spread all over your garden, and you can't get rid of them. Trouble is, of course, these are precisely the ones people are likely to dump or plant out where they think it won't matter.

I remember Himalayan Balsam from the 1960's; it didn't seem like a real pest at all, but there was quite a bit of it scattered about along the Wye, and I got really frustrated as it wasn't in my flower book and I couldn't make out what it was.

[Andy H]

Anyone know what this is, it has popped into the garden and jumping up in many places. It looks nice but wonder if it will be a problem. Hopefully it will take over and murder the annoying green stuff that I think is Mind your own business??

[Mrs Ava]

ooo it is a weed Andy, I have it in the garden and allotment.  I don't mind it as it is pretty at this time of year, but I dig as much out as I can come summer.  Don't know it's name though....

[Andy H]

Thanks EJ I will let it go for a while to see if it slows down the horrible thing near it.