Henbane at Tesco

[wildherbalian85]

Well my local tesco express has a fair few henbane plants growing amongst the woodchipped lanscaping....

Seriously though it was me who threw the seeds there... they where old seeds and the year before i scattered loads of these at various location and not a single plant grew,,,, basically they where pants and i decided to get rid of the rest them. So last year around september i threw the rest there and that was that.

I suspect a few of these would flower this year.... the annual type. Unfortunatly tesco regually removes the weeds from this area

[Hedge Witch]

I wonder what this site has that the others were lacking Hotter, sunnier, different soil, less slugs and snails?

Certainly is strange

[treecreeper]

Originally Posted by wildherbalian85

Seriously though it was me who threw the seeds there... they where old seeds and the year before i scattered loads of these at various location and not a single plant grew,,,, basically they where pants and i decided to get rid of the rest them. So last year around september i threw the rest there and that was that.

I did the same many years ago with thornapple, another solanaceous plant. A big clump of them came up by Shotton station and I collected hundreds of seeds. l scattered them as far south as Shropshire but none ever came up as far as I know. But the books say thornapple seeds stay viable for 40 years so you never know!

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by Hedge Witch

I wonder what this site has that the others were lacking Hotter, sunnier, different soil, less slugs and snails?

Certainly is strange

All of my other sites where in direct sun shine and free of heavy vegitation...

Most of the other sites had Stingy nettles too >>> a sign of nutrient rich grounds which is something henbane needs.

Around 40% of the ground at one of these sights i found would waterlog in winter and this not a good thing! That said they should still have seeded in the warmer months.

It could have been the regular and periodic moving of the soil and woodchips when they where doing the weeding that helped....??

It is such a shame that these plants will never get to live out there natural cycle

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by treecreeper

I did the same many years ago with thornapple, another solanaceous plant. A big clump of them came up by Shotton station and I collected hundreds of seeds. l scattered them as far south as Shropshire but none ever came up as far as I know. But the books say thornapple seeds stay viable for 40 years so you never know!

I shall go back to the othersites this autumn and i will dig the top layer of soil and mix it up.... one problem though >>>> i remember the areas but not the exact spots Oh well i have comfort in knowing they all have high rabbit populations.

[diggleken]

Originally Posted by wildherbalian85

I suspect a few of these would flower this year.... the annual type. Unfortunatly tesco regually removes the weeds from this area

Lucky! Stunningly lovely flower Henbane - usually near the sea, more southerly based, but I've seen them right up on Walney Island, Barrow in Furness - I hope Tesco dont recycle their weeds in prepacked bags . . . . .
Ken

[KeenTeen17]

send me some seeds so we can have some up here! Its one I haven't seen yet

[Hedge Witch]

Sorry to appear uneducated, but how does turning the ground help.

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by Hedge Witch

Sorry to appear uneducated, but how does turning the ground help.

Henbane loves disturbed ground, when found in the wild it is frequently around disturbed ground such as land slips and rabbit holes. It is also on farms especially on plowed ground and headland strips.

[Hedge Witch]

OK, cheers WH