Surrey Homes | SH66 | April 2020 | Gardens supplement

SH Gardens Supplement sponsored by
depending on your soil type and aspect). You may well get
a good rate of germination in the first year, but if you want
to make sure that annual wildflowers will grow again, they
must be allowed to set seed in the autumn, so be patient
and wait until the end of July or beginning of August
before cutting. Leave the cut top growth on the ground
for a few days to encourage seeds to disperse, then rake it
up and remove to ensure that the soil fertility stays low.
Perennial wildflower meadows
A perennial is a plant that has a lifespan of more than a year
or two. It will keep reappearing (in theory) each spring.
Many of our native perennial wildflowers have gradually
turned into cottage garden favourites such as Geraniums
(cranesbill), Foxgloves, Achillea (yarrow) and Aquilegia
(columbine). These plants will manage in meadow situations,
but again the grass will out-compete them if it’s not carefully
managed. Perennials don’t germinate as readily from seed
as annuals, so a good way to start a perennial meadow is
by planting young plug-plants grown in modules. These
will establish more reliably and should flower in their first
or second season (depending on initial size and vigour).
Perennial meadow plants flower around midsummer and
so the meadow can be mown in early spring, then in late
summer and early autumn once the flowers have faded.
Yellow Rattle
There is a way of preventing the grass from out-competing
meadow flowers by growing a plant called Yellow Rattle
Main image; Pictorial meadow in Jo’s garden Left: butterfly on
Verbena bonariensis Below: Cornfield annuals
(Rhinanthus minor). This little plant is partially parasitic
on grass and will weaken it, allowing wildflowers a
foothold. Most meadow mixes now contain Yellow
Rattle seed, but it’s worth seeking out locally produced
seed that will be regionally adapted. It is an annual, best
sown in the autumn, or planted as plugs in spring.
Pictorial Meadows
A pictorial, or faux meadow, like those seen in the Olympic
park in 2012, uses non-native annuals and short lived
perennials to create a relaxed and wafting meadowy look. The
principals are broadly the same – you need to make sure that
any grasses are sparse and won’t swamp the delicate annuals,
or just use flowers and don’t include any grass at all. April is
a great time to sow a pictorial meadow, as seeds of plants like
Cosmos should germinate directly once the weather is warm
enough. To be on the safe side it is worth sowing a few of
the less hardy varieties as plugs to plant out once the danger
of frost is past, but this will make the process more labour
intensive. A wide range of annuals can be used to make a
pretend meadow; when we grew one a few years ago at one
of my courses, I bought a few packs of cornfield annuals
and mixed in seeds of other commonly available annuals. I
put them all in a bucket with some sand prior to sowing –
they need to be sown sparingly and the sand helps to spread
them out when you’re broadcast sowing by the handful.
You’ll need to prepare the ground; remove all weeds and
make the soil ready by raking it to a fine tilth (it should look
like crumble topping). Scatter seeds over the surface of the
soil and then rake over lightly. It won’t matter if you tread
on it a bit – just as the sheep in the stubble fields press
the seeds into the ground, it’s important that the
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