One of my favourite things about gardening is the element of surprise. You can design and plan a garden to the finest detail, but you have no control over what will land in your plot.
I’ve just cut the lawn. I did it on my hands and knees, using shears, so I could see what I was cutting. I recently sowed some white clover into the sward and didn’t want to damage the seedlings, and there were other plants that had made their own way to the grass.
One of my favourite things about gardening is the element of surprise. You can design and plan a garden to the finest detail, but you have no control over what will land in your plot, be it a rogue ‘weed’ or something more ornamental. Some of these self-seeding plants land in the most fortuitous locations, combining with other plants to beautiful effect.
In the lawn I found poppy and honesty seedlings, two dandelions, lots of chickweed and some borage. The poppies, honesty and borage were transplanted into the border and I’m hoping the dandelions will multiply through the lawn, complementing the newly sowed clover. The chickweed got the snip (there’s plenty of that elsewhere).
The borders, too, are full of seedlings. Many of them chickweed, but some are more interesting, like the comfrey under the cherry tree and the knapweed I found growing in my potted blueberry. I’ve yet to identify most of them. Wanting to find out what these seedlings are is a great excuse for being lazy with the weeding. Last year some aquilegias self-seeded into the garden, and the year before my first foxglove arrived, which has now multiplied through the borders. Each year the garden looks different, growing and evolving with each passing season.
The best thing about self-seeded plants, is that they’re more than likely already suited to growing in your garden. If they’re native, like my dandelions, they’re also likely to be of local provenance, so will have evolved over milennia with the local bees and butterflies that rely on them.
One day I’ll create a space and dedicate it entirely to self seeders. I’ll prepare the soil, water it, and just leave it, to see what happens. I'll watch as it will first be colonised by moss and lichens, then low-growing plants, followed by shrubs and, eventually, trees. If left forever, it would become a forest.
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