In the garden: Wildflowers to add a dash of colour

The warm weather has returned among some cloudier days, and it is good growing weather as plants happily burst forward, making the most of temperatures, soil moisture, and light, as many reach for flowering.

Herbaceous perennials are starting to sing now and there is lots of colour appearing in the form of catmint, lavender, phlox, alstromeria and so much more - all creating sweet colours and scents in the garden.

As foxgloves near the end of flowering, it is a good idea to label the more unusual colours so that seed can be collected or they can seed themselves in the garden.

Sweet pea are establishing well, with the warmer temperatures suiting their climbing tendrils as they wind their way up supports, flowering as they go.

Do ensure to water them during dry weather as they love moisture at their roots and will reward you with more plentiful flowering.

Also, the more the flowers are cut, the more sweet pea will produce more flowers, as any spent flowers left on the plant will go on to set seed and this will take the energy of the plant.

They create a heady scent when brought indoors, particularly this early in the season when the scent is stronger.

Harvesting has begun in the kitchen garden with fruits ripening well in the summer sunshine, and it looks like it will be a good year for fruit harvests of all descriptions this year.

May was a great month weather-wise, with good pollination and fruit set resulting. There is a promising crop of apples and pears developing and gooseberries, currants, and strawberries are all colouring up nicely as sugar content increases and they ripen.

Getting the balance with fruit harvest and birds can be a challenge, and netting or a fruit cage is a huge advantage. Enviro-mesh is one of the best materials for use as a removable layer. It has a tightly woven fabric which is breathable and can be reused every year.

Clothes pegs can be used to secure it into place once some supports are installed, and it can easily be removed and replaced for intermittent harvesting purposes.

However, it is important not to install netting barriers like this too early in the season as they may prevent access by pollinating insects, resulting in poor fruit set.

Meadows are looking great now as wildflowers such as oxeye daisy, birds foot trefoil, red clover, knapweed and buttercups surge forward above the grass, dancing in the wind.

One thing I have noticed since relinquishing some of the ‘lawn’ area and allowing long grass and meadow areas to develop, is that seedlings of trees growing in proximity are starting to establish as the grass is no longer being cut down.

This will result in the development of a woodland if it is allowed to continue, and this may not always be possible with space constraints.

Establishing yellow rattle (rhinanthus minor) can be key in restoring or developing a meadow space. It is a native Irish wildflower and it is semi- parasitic to grass, which means that it can obtain water and nutrients from grasses by means of root- like organs called haustoria.

In doing this, it weakens the grass and this is key to developing a flower rich meadow.

There are also annual wildflower mixes that can be sown each year, but the soil needs to be cultivated annually for this to work. They do look very attractive and can be a great project in an area where the soil is disturbed and a quick fix is needed.

Maintaining a perennial meadow is a different story. It requires strategic timing for cutting the grass when seeds have set at the end of the summer, removal of the clippings once the seeds have dried and dropped to the ground, and incorporating plants like yellow rattle to help create a more flower-filled space with less grass dominating.

Removing the nutrients that the clippings would provide is essential to keep the grass at bay and to create conditions more favourable for wildflowers.

Scything was a traditional practice used to cut the hay and is being looked at again as a low impact method of maintaining meadows. It is, of course, a very labour-intensive, slow, and skilled way of doing the job.

Sickle mowers will also get the job done, but in much faster time and withy much less skill involved.

There are day courses in the art of scything run at Irish Seed Savers in County Clare, check out www.irishseedsavers.ie for more details.

Plant of the Week

Rosebay willow herb (chamaenerion angustifolium) is making its presence felt in hedgerows and waste ground as it towers toward the sky.

This is a perennial wildflower which spreads by rhizome and produces spires up to two metres tall of pink/purple flowers laden with purple pollen is a great one for pollinators in the garden.

The common name comes from the leaves, which are long and narrow, similar to the leaves of willow.

The plant has many uses, and its young leaves are edible in salads as are the flowers. It also has medicinal uses in the treatment of coughs and asthma.

It colonises areas where the soil has been disturbed and is frequently seen adjacent to railway lines or waste ground.

It also has the common name fireweed as it will often be one of the pioneer plants to appear on burnt ground where gorse has been controlled for example.

The seeds can settle deep in the soil and remain viable for many years, waiting for their opportunity to germinate and grow.