The merits of planting native species

[Jez]

My garden has red Campions, wild primroses, common bistort, wood cranesbill, lungwort, wood vetch (potted with clematis), ox eye daisy, small scabious, lily of the valley, wild majoram, cowslips, wild thyme, dark mullein, musk mallow, bladder campion, betony, purple loosestrife, foxglove, aquilegia, common dog violet, cuckoo flower, jacobs ladder, wood forget me not, meadow cranesbill & devils bit scabious natives in my herbaceous borders along with centurea monarda, lychnis firecracker, phlox, knautia macedona, echinops, hardy cranesbills, crocosmia, hellebores, dicentra spectabilis, lysimachia puncata (vigorous), alliums, aqulegia cultivars, astrantia's and so forth, but no sight of nettles or thistles so I'm mythed to how all these natives plants bring with them tenacious weeds and have lowered the diversity?

[shenk1]

Some of the indvidual wildflower plants we have planted over the last 8 years (hopefully the new ones will do the same-Hi Jez) have now started to grow in the fields and farmers track behind us so I feel we are helping to put something back into nature.
The farmer who has the land behind us uses it mainly for horses now and they have loads of wildflowers growing in and around the area as the only plants they use weedkiller on are the ragwort for obvious reasons.
As for "weeds" we will let things grow in the beds and remove it if it doesn't fit or look right ,but that is what you do with "ordinary" garden plants anyway

[Jez]

Originally Posted by shenk1

As for "weeds" we will let things grow in the beds and remove it if it doesn't fit or look right ,but that is what you do with "ordinary" garden plants anyway

That's the way I do things, not known a garden yet not to get undesirables creeping in from time to time!

[ashgale]

Originally Posted by nightshade

To win back Sparrows I have replaced a lot of my garden with native species and as a result now have Sparrows in the garden again but they do love the Bamboo Niger which I suppose stands instead of reeds

our resident flock of around 30'ish house sparrows love the bamboos in the garden, they hold their daily (very noisy) "meetings" in the middle of them, and now that several of the clumps have seeded this year, have found an extra food source in the seed heads, and a great plus for bamboos in the garden, a pair of goldfinches have nested in the top of one (15ft) and have succesfully reared a brood of young ones in it,
so native plants are not essential for our native wildlife at all, it seems

ashgale.

[Johnny Redgate]

Originally Posted by Jez

so I'm mythed to how all these natives plants bring with them tenacious weeds and have lowered the diversity?

Yep. No idea what animartco is on about either.

[animartco]

Hi Jez
Of course plant the beautiful native flowers! But don't replace mature cultivars with the very commonest of native trees and invasive weeds! This was more or less what Back was suggesting. And there is SO much of this distruction of very rich habitat to plant up a fad that won't work anyway, going on!!!!! It really gets my goat. YOU CANNOT BUILD A WILDLIFE GARDEN FROM BARE EARTH!!!
WILDLIFE REALLY DOES NOT CARE WHAT PLANTS ARE IN YOUR GARDEN, SO LONG AS THEY ARE VARIED, PLENTIFUL, LUSH, FLOWER WELL, AND PROVIDE DENSE COVER.
But note the word 'varied'. This is the most important point. Replacing a mixed bed with plenty of flower all year round, with a weed that only flowers for a couple of weeks is definitely a step in the wrong direction. Don't you agree?
I seem to be very bad at putting arguments clearly. So I'll describe my garden, as Jez did,
Jez your garden sounds super and very similar to my own. I have almost all the plants you name, and the colour in my garden is more from wildflowers than cultivated ones. But I do wage war on the really invasive weeds, and I certainly wouldn't plant brambles nettles thistles or dock in my garden! Gardens are an opportulity to provide a VARIETY of planting. There are plenty of areas round the country that are pure stands of nettles, or any other invasive weed! If you plant these things you not only destroy your own habitat but you makle it very difficult for your neighbours to maintain theirs.
Is it clear now what I mean by an invasive weed?
I do not include the following in this category: from my garden these;-primrose cowslip honesty foxglove vetch, wild sweet pea, clover buttercup daisies of any kind, herb robert cranesbill, birds foot trefoil, and my favourite that I defy any garden flower to equal- my speedwell lawn. OF COURSE we should always include wildflowers in our garden, but not the commonest weeds that can be found growing in profusion on every piece of wasteground in your locality- and this of course includes native trees which can completely ruin a small garden. A place for everything and everything in its place.

[animartco]

Originally Posted by animartco

Hi Jez
Of course plant the beautiful native flowers! But don't replace mature cultivars with the very commonest of native trees and invasive weeds! This was more or less what Back was suggesting. And there is SO much of this distruction of very rich habitat to plant up a fad that won't work anyway, going on!!!!! It really gets my goat. YOU CANNOT BUILD A WILDLIFE GARDEN FROM BARE EARTH!!!
WILDLIFE REALLY DOES NOT CARE WHAT PLANTS ARE IN YOUR GARDEN, SO LONG AS THEY ARE VARIED, PLENTIFUL, LUSH, FLOWER WELL, AND PROVIDE DENSE COVER.
But note the word 'varied'. This is the most important point. Replacing a mixed bed with plenty of flower all year round, with a weed that only flowers for a couple of weeks is definitely a step in the wrong direction. Don't you agree?
I seem to be very bad at putting arguments clearly. So I'll describe my garden, as Jez did,
Jez your garden sounds super and very similar to my own. I have almost all the plants you name, and the colour in my garden is more from wildflowers than cultivated ones. But I do wage war on the really invasive weeds, and I certainly wouldn't plant brambles nettles thistles or dock in my garden! Gardens are an opportulity to provide a VARIETY of planting. There are plenty of areas round the country that are pure stands of nettles, or any other invasive weed! If you plant these things you not only destroy your own habitat but you makle it very difficult for your neighbours to maintain theirs.
Is it clear now what I mean by an invasive weed?
I do not include the following in this category: from my garden these;-primrose cowslip honesty foxglove vetch, wild sweet pea, clover buttercup daisies of any kind, herb robert cranesbill, birds foot trefoil, and my favourite that I defy any garden flower to equal- my speedwell lawn. OF COURSE we should always include wildflowers in our garden, but not the commonest weeds that can be found growing in profusion on every piece of wasteground in your locality- and this of course includes native trees which can completely ruin a small garden. A place for everything and everything in its place.

A garden is a landscape in miniature. Can't remember who said this. Anybody? It means that where nature swathes, say rose bay willow herb, over an acre, in a garden you swather it over five or six square yards, and then something else.

[Susie]

I'm trying to establish birds foot trefoil in my garden. It grows like a weed in the surrounding area and every road verge has golden patches of it at the moment and the Common Blue butterfly loves it.

[galanthophile]

I started off with a typical herbaceous borders type garden but now I lean towards species plants (peonies, lilies etc) and try to incorporate a mixture of wild and cultivated. I can even bear to have a patch of nettles and a log pile in the corner. My pond is completely native. Love it!