Allotments 4 All
Produce => Non Edible Plants => Topic started by: cestrian on May 02, 2012, 19:10:17
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There's lots of these flowers growing in my area. Are they flowers or weeds?
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/7136264143_6335bd96ce.jpg)
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FLOWERS!!!!! ;D They are looooovely cowslips..primula family... ;)
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oh you lucky thing , you have all those cow slips growing , cow slip envy as i can never grow them
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I love cowslips. Sometimes you get them on motorway embankments, they're so pretty in contrast.
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I've got just one- lovingly transplanted out of a gravel path- enjoy your bounty and keep the Roundup off..... ::)
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I love cowslips too, it seems to be a good year. I think they are protected.
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Oh same here......I have one in a pot I bought from a wild flower place. I must plant it, they are beautiful ;D
You are very lucky Cestrian to have so many and naturalising too ;D
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I hope Jay B doesn't mind but I noticed this photo on the rolling home page gallery shots and thought I would post it here.
It's a lovely photo..
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=1199
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Stunning.........thanks Duke and Jayb ;D ;D ;D
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Definitely cowslip and the wild ones are protected.
We have a few in a sunny but damp border originally purchased from a local family run garden centre. Once settled in they are quite likely to self-seed and spread.
Mrs R loves them. ;)
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Back in the late 1930's we used to pick bunches of them for our Grandmother. She loved them and they grew profusely in the countryside at that time. Haven't seen them growing wild since then. Lucky you, Cestrian.
Tricia
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My mum sold of part of her garden for development ( I know! ). One job I did before the fence went up was rescue a hand full of cowslips that were growing in the grass.I planted them in my garden and they love it there!
They seed all over the place, through the borders and in the lawn. They look stunning. Love' em!
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I rescued a few from a British Gas pipeline works many years ago and have had them in the lawn ever since. I was so upset that they dug right through a whole bank of them, but I was able to plant a box full back after they left. But is has never regained its former glory.
They were very common when I was a child.
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I rescued a few from a British Gas pipeline works many years ago and have had them in the lawn ever since. I was so upset that they dug right through a whole bank of them, but I was able to plant a box full back after they left. But is has never regained its former glory.
They were very common when I was a child.
It's sad to think of all the things that have gone since some of us were children....the common hedgerow and kerbside flowers being just one thing. :(
At the top of our road was an open piece of land (farm land at the bottom). My mates and I played there as kids but when I was alone I'd sit quietly and wait for the sand lizards to appear. They were amazingly quick when they moved but, in quiet moments, they would bask in the sun for ages waiting for a fly to pass by.
Toads, newts, smooth & grass snakes, sticklebacks and bugs by the ton as well as beautiful butterflies. Do children these days ever get the chance to be interested in such things? :(
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Cowslips. Thanks!
There are quite a few on the field where I walk my dogs.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7139523411_e440265121.jpg)
That's Max and Meg.
The sad thing is I know that the council will be round to mow this field before too long. I might just rescue one or two and give them a good home.
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Thanks for sharing the picture - lovely to see them doing so well in their natural habitat.
Take care with rescuing them... you will probably need permission to go digging them up ???
An internet search might give you more information but here "Wild About Britain" (http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/wildflowers/1537-picking-wildflowers.html) offers a bit of advice about wildflowers in general.
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Beautiful dogs cestrian, and a lovely field, thanks for the photo.
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Thanks for the link Aden. I nearly committed a felony there. :o
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Thanks for the link Aden. I nearly committed a felony there. :o
According to some of the blurb on the hinternet... I think it said a properly managed meadow (with cowslips) should be mowed every 3 years to allow the setting of seeds. (Perhaps it was no more than every 3 years??)
I'd imagine where you are their huge abundance would allow for the collection of a few seed heads without too much of a fuss from anyone (?). Sprinkled straight onto your own prepared ground (or a seed tray) and left to get on with it might well give you some seedlings the following spring. Alternatively you could just happen to be bending down with a paperbag when you knocked against the seed heads and the seed fell into the bag as it might.... then you wouldn't actually picking any either)
I am pretty sure cowslips are not amongst the most highly protected wildflowers so..... :-X
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Fresh 'green' seeds sown straight away from the pods will germinate in few weeks and you'll be pricking them out this summer.. ;) Just scatter on surface of compost on tray and water in.
You will need to look for really plump pods that are just about to break open.
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Fresh 'green' seeds sown straight away from the pods will germinate in few weeks and you'll be pricking them out this summer.. ;) Just scatter on surface of compost on tray and water in.
You will need to look for really plump pods that are just about to break open.
What a shame there's probably some restriction about collecting them and passing them on. ::) ;D ;D
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Fresh 'green' seeds sown straight away from the pods will germinate in few weeks and you'll be pricking them out this summer.. ;) Just scatter on surface of compost on tray and water in.
You will need to look for really plump pods that are just about to break open.
What a shame there's probably some restriction about collecting them and passing them on. ::) ;D ;D
Yes..it is shame..but same instructions will apply for all primulas... ;) ;D
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If there are that many cowslips in the field then it looks as if the council have been mowing it at the right time. Oxfordshire mow their verges at a better time than Gloucestershire and so as soon as I drive over the county bountry there are loads of them. They are not long lived my experiience in the lawn is about three years, so they need to be mown after setting the seed.
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When driving around the country I have noticed that cowslips are in abundance on the banks either side of motorways... I think that's a wonderful idea to plant wild flowers in areas like that, at lease no one will be picking/nicking or walking all over them. I think we should then have swathes of beautiful wild plants (conditions permitting)in places where they can grow and thrive :D
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I drive down a bypass every day to work and it is full of swathes of cowslips, fabulous sight ;D
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It must be a good year for cowslips I drove across the cotswolds on a routes I have been doing often for many years and there are loads of them around, including fields full of them, not seen that for many years.
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I have a number of cowslips in my garden and paddock. They seem to come up everywhere much to my delight.
However, some have, like many of the primula family, been promiscuous and I have ended up with some dark orange ones. They are very beautiful so I am going to move them into a separate bed.
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It's the only primula I seem to be able to grow successfully, as it likes drier conditions than most. Last summer killed a lot of mine off, but some came through, and they seed like mad.