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Talkback: Growing teasels

I found a broken off seed head over the Woodland Trust field when walking the dogs some years ago and scattered the seed on the garden now they grow where they like.I love the way the flowers come out like halos .
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  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,617

    The stems are hollow .I have cut some into sections for a bee hotel.  The rest I leave the seedheads for the birds during the winter. The bees have finished with the flowers.

  • Yes Fidget, and it is a very welcome added pleasure when the Gold Finches arrive en mass to do acrobatics on the bare plant as they spend quite a while picking the seeds. Smile inducing I feel, on a bleak winters dayimage

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,617

    Goldfinches like lavender seeds too, if you don't cut them back until spring.

  • I will try to leave some lavender this year Fidget, I usually use them to deter moths in wardrobes and book cases.

  • Old chippy - I love that about the flowers coming out as halos! I will always think of you now when I see one :)



    fidgetbons - good tip re solitary bee hotels. Mine has a few hollow teasel stems in it too.
  • oldchippyoldchippy Posts: 244

    Thank you Kate.

  • Tropical SamTropical Sam Posts: 1,488

    I live next to a woodland and get Teasels growing all the time. I left a few last year and one is 8ft tall by 6ft wide this year. Bees certainly love the purple flowers. I will be cutting it down soon as it is too big and is shredding the leaves on my plants.

  • I love mine too! We have 2 that are 7` tall, the purple has mostly been picked off by bees and the occasional sparrow. I will try scattering the seed as well, as that may be succesful? Depends on the winter I guess? May also try in pots, nothing to lose!

    I have Eryngium too, they did not  flower at all last year but have masses of blus flowers thia year.   

  • Good ideas fidget, i didnt realise about the lavender seeds.
  • I only have a medium garden but have a clump of these and they are 2.7 metres high, they grew from seeds that fell from a plant i had in the corner, but they grew into my raised veg bed, so i didnt have the heart to move them, i am claiming it back though soon, but will let them stay in the corner. I originally grew them to attract goldfinches and when they came i also put a niger seed feeder up and they come all the time now with their babies as well which look strange without colour on their heads image

     

     

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