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Heritage Flowers Gift Box Set

Whilst on our search for old varieties of flower seed we came across this great gift offer by English Heritage.

The Thomas Etty Esq Heritage Flowers box set contains a packet of each of the following:
Snap Dragon, Sweet William, Forget-Me-Not, Pot Marigold, Tall Climbing Nasturtium and Field Poppy.

Presented as a box set of six seed packets, this is an ideal gift for Mother's day, Easter and birthdays.

The heritage flower seed box set is available online form the English Heritage shop.

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Snakes Head Fritillaria

Fritillaria meleagris or Snake's Head Fritillary as it is more commonly known, is a native of Europe, found growing in damp grassland and near rivers.

Apart from it's original English name of Snake's Head fritillary, It has many local name variations such as Simple Fritillary, Checkered Daffodil, Frog-cup, Chess Flower, Guinea-hen Flower and Leper Lily,

The flowers are nodding, dainty, six petaled bells, hang from slender stems about 15 to 30cm in height.  They range from white to various shades of purple and bear a unique, chequered patterning which is quite obvious on the purple flowers but more of a feint "water mark" on the white flowers.

Fritillaria meleagris flowers from March to May from a small bulb, about 2 cm in diameter, commonly found growing in grasslands in damp soils and river meadows.

It is the only species of Fritillary native to Britain, but is now quite rare in the wild due to modern farming and land cultivation techniques.

Places to find Fritillaria meleagris in the wild:
The Meadow of Magdalen College, Oxford,
The village of Ducklington, Oxfordshire (which holds a Fritillary Sunday festival)
North Meadow National Nature Reserve, Wiltshire
Meadows in Kungsängen, just outside Uppsala, Sweden (also giving the flower its Swedish name, kungsängslilja).

Bulbs are available commercially and are extremely hardy.  Best placed in light shade and under deciduous trees and shrubs in free-draining soil, or naturalised in grass. Bulbs of the Fritilaria meleagris are poisonous.

Where to obtain the bulbs;
Thompson & Morgan - Plant, bulb and seed specialists
Fentongollan - Cornish bulb, plant and vegetable supplier
De Jager - Flower bulb specialists since 1868
The Wild Flower Shop - Specialists in British native flowers
Crocus - Plant and garden supplier

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Are Your Bluebells Native?

A few woodland areas in the UK will soon be carpeted in blue from the end of April to Mid May.

Our native British Bluebell is considered an endangered species and as such cannot be picked or uprooted from the wild.  Even the seed cannot be gathered without the consent of Natural England.

The Natural History Museum state:

"In recent years there has been growing concern that our native species is under threat by breeding with the cultivated bluebell. Hybridisation can alter a plant species’ genetic makeup and may result in a reduced ability to survive.

Until recently, this popular theory has been supported by little evidence, and the true status of bluebells in the UK and Ireland may be more complex.  Further study is needed to find out if the native bluebell is really under threat."

You can help take part in this study by logging onto to Natural History Museum Website and recording your bluebell findings.

An article in the April issue of Country Living magazine focuses on a couple who have become two of the first people in England to be granted permission to gather bluebell seeds from their farm woodland in Kent.  Barry and Karin of Farnell Farm carefully collect, preserve and sell their bluebell seed so that others can enjoy the beauty of this beautiful flower.

Thanks to their hard work and that of others, it is now easier to raise your own native bluebells from seed.

Places to see Bluebell woods:

• Muncaster Castle, Cumbria.
• High Hall Nurseries, Westward, nr Wigton, Cumbria.
• Arlington Bluebell walk and farm trail. East Sussex.
• Rode Hall. Cheshire
• Bluebell Woods in the Chilterns.

You may also be interested in:

BBC article and video
Offwell Woodland & Wildlife Trust. Feature and picture gallery.
Central Scotland Forest Trust. Atricle about bluebells under threat

To grow your own native British Bluebells, bulbs and seed can be obtained from the following suppliers;

Farnell Farm - Native Bluebell seeds for your garden or woodland. Ideal for cultivating large areas.
The Wild Flower Shop - Specialists in naive British plants.
Nicky's Nursery - Native British Bluebell wild flower seeds.

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Sweet Violets

From late February to May in shade at the edges of woodland or in hedgerows we can find clumps of sweet violet (viola odorata).

This is our native British plant, usually appearing with flowers of deep to pale lilac to the more rare white.

 

Leaves are heart shaped and bright green, forming a carpet of ground cover with delicate flowers nodding on short, hairy, pale green stems. The flower has a beautiful and unmistakable perfume, once prized by the Victorians and was the flower of Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love.

Historically, the Sweet Violet has a long tradition of uses, including many medicinal applications. Crushed sweet violets were often strewn on cottage and church floors to mask odours.

The Native Sweet Violet can easily be grown in our gardens, as long as it is given a shaded or semi shaded area with good soil, it can thrive and self seed quite happily.

Seed and plants can be obtained from specialist nurseries such as the Devon Violet Nursery. and Grove Nurseries in West Dorset, where the  National collection of Sweet Violets can be found.

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The Foxglove

The Foxgolve ( Digitalis pupurea) is a native plant of Europe and used to be found growing in many British hedgerows.

Its botanical name means "finger-like" and refers to the easy ability to place an open flower over your finger, just like a thimble.

Tubular flowers are produced along a tall stem and depending of the species, vary from purple to pink, white, and yellow. Of course the best known species in the UK is the Common Foxglove or Digitalis purpurea.

Wild foxgloves are biennial, This means that they take two years to develop from seed to flower. The first year of growth produces a rosette of long basal leaves.

In the second year, the tall stem appears, thrusting the flower buds sometimes as high as 1.5 metres tall.  The delicate pale pink buds open to reveal darker pink to purple flowers with speckled throats.  These flowers surround the top third of the stem.

 

Foxgloves are loved by Bees and used to grow wild in hedgerows and waste ground in the UK.  They are still to be found but not in such profusion.

 

 

 

The entire plant is very poisonous from the roots to the seeds and should never be picked or handled without the correct gloves and knowledge. 

 

A long history of medicinal use surrounds the Foxglove and they are still used to this day to produce a heart medication called "Digitalin".

Cottage garden designs invariably include foxgloves but instead of the native biennial foxglove which self seed so easily they can become a real weed, there is now a wide range of hybrid varieties including a perennial version which flowers every year.

 

The Digitalis Camelot trio from Thompson & Morgan is the first ever F1 Hybrid Foxglove.

Grows reliably in our UK gardens and becuase it's and F1 hybrid, it does not self seed and take over the garden.

Worth remembering though, is the fact that Honey and Bumble bees require the native variety for its pollen and nectar.  So if you have room and want to grow foxgloves, make sure you plant some of our native Digitalis Purpurea.

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Looking for Dianthus

English Heritage are asking all gardeners to look out for original carnations (Dianthus), commonly known as "Pinks"

Original species have a feathered edge to the petals and have a distinctive "clove like" perfume.  The flowers are usually single or double but do not form the large pom pom type heads we associate with commercial grown carnations.

Their striking petal colours, vary from palest pink to dark burgundy, some with intricate bold markings.

 

Dianthus introduced into the UK during the 16th century could be hiding in gardens all over the country and are required for the restoration of the Elizabethan gardens at Kenilworth Castle which is to feature in a four part BBC series to be shown in 2009 on BBC2.

If you think you may have a heritage dianthus, contact English Heritage on 0870 333 1181 or e.mail customers@english-heritage.org.uk.

The British National Carnation Society are also creating a database of all carnation varieties.

Again, to ascertain if any "long lost" varieties are hiding in our gardens and to create an overall picture of Dianthus growing in the UK.

The RHS is the International Registration Authority for Dianthus, including all types of carnations and pinks. A list of cultivar names was published in The International Dianthus Register, and it is kept up-to-date with regular supplements. As well as names, these publications include wherever possible a brief description, parentage, date of raising and classification for each cultivar. These publications are available from the mail order department of RHS Enterprises at Wisley.

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Suppliers of old seed varieties

Here you will find a few commercial suppliers of old varieties of fruit, vegetables and flowers.

Thomas Etty, Somerset (heritage seedsman and bulb merchant) Tel: 01963 359202

Organic Gardening Catalogue, Surrey (organically grown, sundries, discount for Garden Organic and RHS members)

Edwin Tucker & Sons Ltd, Devon (seeds and seed potatoes) Tel: 01364 652233

Chiltern Seeds - Fresh seeds of around 4,500 species and varieties, many rare and unusual, and including almost 200 brand new items and more than 150 reintroductions for 2010. Tel: +44 (0) 1229 581137

If you would like to be listed then please let us know via the form below.

You may also want to be listed in our Keeptradelocal directory of local businesses

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The Sweet Pea

This is the time of year that many gardener's are daily gathering bunches of these delightfully fragrant flowers.

An old favourite and mainstay of british gardens for generations, this flower now comes in a huge array of varieties with large colourful blooms and glorious perfume but where did it originate?

Earliest documentation suggests that the plant originates from Sicily in southern Italy and was sent to England in 1699 by a Sicilian Monk, Fransicus Cupani to a Dr. Robert Uvedale, a schoolmaster in Enfield.

Throughout the 18th Century, the original purple/maroon bicolour sported several mutations with even a pink/white being documented around 1730.

At this time, the flowers were produced two to a stem, with the stems being shorter and the flowers smaller than the hybrids we see today.

 The 19th century saw the first grandiflora strain, bred by Henry Eckford in Shropshire.  

These grew in a much wider variety of colours and with much larger flowers but still retaining the unmistakable perfume of the original.  

The work of Henry Eckford gave rise to the whole range of 'Spencer' sweet peas, so named from an original sport grown on the Earl Spencer's estate at Althorp in 1899, the 'Countess Spencer'.

(The Andrew Cavendish Spencer Variety sweet pea, courtesy of Roger Parsons Sweet Peas)

From this date on, much work has gone into the breeding of sweet peas to create long stems for cutting with clusters of large blooms from the purest white through to the darkest velvety purple, bearing the names of well known people such as Norman Wisdom, Monty Don and Terry Wogan.

My grandmother grew sweet peas religiously every year for as long as I can remember and I always try to grow plenty to provide a constant supply for the house.  

This year I obtained some seed from the 'Cupani' variety and it has not disappointed.

As expected it is smaller in flower size bearing only two blooms to each stem, with stem length being only about 15 - 20cm it is suitable for smaller arrangements.

The colour is an exquisite maroon/purple bicolour and packs a perfume punch far in excess of its stature.

For any sweet pea grower, the original 'Cupani' is a must, every single seed germinated without scarification or pre-soaking and the plants themselves grew vigorously without problem.

If you want to find out more about the sweet pea, a great site to visit is Roger Parsons Sweet Peas, where a more detailed history exists courtesy of the extensive research of Roger Parsons, well known among sweet pea growers as a Trustee and Membership Secretary of the National Sweet Pea Society.

He is a former Chairman of the NSPS/Royal Horticultural Society Joint Trials Committee. Roger’s particular interests include the history and development of the sweet pea, other Lathyrus species and the raising of new varieties.

He is available outside the growing season to give illustrated talks to all levels of interest.

Picture above from Roger's web site proudly displaying some of his beauties.