Wildflowers

[Yetano]

We're having a couple of trees put in at the bottom of our quite small garden and I'd like to have wild flowers alongside and underneath them. The man putting down turf for the whole garden has suggested planting bulbs underneath the turf, which seems to make sense.
I've looked and bluebells, anemones, crocuses etc all look perfect. The thing is that they only seem to be available "in the green", a term I only learnt yesterday, that appears to mean already growing.

Does anyone know if I can plant dormant bulbs at this time of year, and if so, where I can find them. Also would like to add wildflowers later in the year. Can I just sprinkle on seeds, or is this a waste of time?

I think the time for dormant bulbs has passed.
You’d need to cut the turf and tuck the green growing bulb in I imagine.
Wildflowers, German chamomile self seeds I believe but a lot of the wildflowers people think of when they think ‘wildflower meadow’ like cornflowers and poppies only come back if the soil is disturbed.
I’d look at perennial wildflowers like thrift and mallow and add ‘wild looking’ flowers that will self sow and come back each year like German chamomile, verbena bonariensis, sweet alyssum etc

You probably won’t be able to buy dormant bulbs at this time of the year. Your turf person is right to suggest buying bulbs in the green, though apart from left over narcissi and crocus sold off in pots at the end of the season I have only seen snowdrops specifically sold as in the green. They can be planted around your trees and while they won’t flower this year you can be comforted by the fact that dormant bulbs wouldn’t either. Make sure you don’t accidentally cut off the green bit as that is what is nourishing the bulb for 2022.

The reason bulbs are often suggested for going under trees is that bulbs generally come up early in the year when the trees are bare, so there is enough light for the bulbs to replenish themselves before it gets too shady. Most wild flowers flower and grow later in the year when the trees are in leaf so there is less light available for them, underneath trees it is also usually dry poor soil. So quite harsh conditions unless you have a built in food source like bulbs do.There probably are wild flowers that would cope with the conditions, but I don’t think they are going to be the dainty pretty ones.

Another plant that could probably cope under trees are cyclamens, which could look great if you plant the autumn flowering ones. At least you will have interest under the tree for two seasons.

snowdrops specifically sold as in the green. They can be planted around your trees
bulbs generally come up early in the year when the trees are bare, so there is enough light for the bulbs to replenish themselves before it gets too shady
We just take some of the branches out of our trees so more light reaches below.
Everything planted underneath them has done fine.

Actual wildflowers or just free sown annuals such as cosmos, borage, nigella?

Big difference.

Need scattering about now or they won't grow this year. Still need care and attention.

And yes, most bulbs are not dormant now so aren't available as such.

Snowdrops are better planted in the green because dry bulbs don't always come back into life.

For wildflowers you'd be looking at things that naturally grow in the shade, so red campion, stitchwort (white). yellow archangel for example. You'd be better starting the seeds in pots and transplanting.

Naturescape is an on-line seller of wildflower plugs and seeds, and their suggestion for woodland flowers is:

Agrimonia eupatoria – Common Agrimony
Alliaria petiolata – Garlic Mustard
Allium ursinum – Ramsons/ Wild Garlic
Angelica sylvestris – Wild Angelica
Campanula trachelium – Nettle Leaved Bellflower
Digitalis purpurea – Wild Foxglove
Filipendula ulmaria – Meadowsweet
Galium mollugo – Hedge Bedstraw
Geranium robertanianum – Herb Robert
Geum urbanum – Wood Avens
Hyacinthoides non-scripta – English Bluebell
Hypericum hirsutum – Hairy St. John’s Wort
Primula vulgaris – Wild Primrose
Prunella vulgaris – Self Heal
Silene dioica – Red Campion
Stachys officinalis – Betony
Stachys sylvatica – Hedge Woundwort
Teucrium scorodonia – Wood Sage
Torilis japonica – Upright Hedge Parsley

Thank you everyone. Really helpful.

I don't know why, but it hadn't occurred to me to start off wildflower seeds myself. Makes perfect sense. I'd already planned on doing tomatoes in the next week.

Naturescape is an excellent resource for seeds and plants.
I love tufted vetch, fell in love with it last summer on a rare walk with my mum (maybe that's why I ordered plugs for my garden).

I also ordered giant bellflowers for their height.

I would also really recommend Sweet Violets

We have primroses under our apple trees, they are glorious in early spring.

Tufted Vetch looks so beautiful and MrsBertBibby those primroses look spectacular.

Has anyone tried anything with orchids?

Be a bit careful with wildflowers such as red campion and herb Robert - they may do too well if sown in fertile garden soils! I'm overrun with them.

Native orchids are very picky, and need exactly the right conditions. How about fritillaries?

If you decide to plant bluebells, you need to be really careful that you are planting the native ones and not Spanish or hybrids.

I don't think I've ever seen hardy orchids on sale.

If the grass gets sparse under the trees, cyclamen are gorgeous for the winter months. The small hardy ones, obviously.

Sorry, I'd missed that someone has already recommended cyclamen but they really are lovely!

I don't think I've ever seen hardy orchids on sale.
lanesidehardyorchids.co.uk/catalog/index.php

You can get bulbs in the green when they're in season - I planted 100 snowdrops yesterday (which taught me a bit about which bits of the garden thaw out fastest.)

You can probably get summer bulbs now, things like gladioli, but they will mostly want full sun, so won't do under trees. You will need to wait till autumn for spring bulbs which are not in the green. You will get snowdrops then, too, but they won't necessarily grow. I did have 2, yes a whole 2, come up this year. That's probably working out at £50 a bulb over the years...

You can buy all sorts of wildflower seeds these days, either singly (WTF is sinhlybor, autocorrect, you useless piece of technology?) or in mixed packets. Avoid any that want full sun. MereDint's list is good.

This isn't a one-off project. You can put stuff in over the year, see what works and what doesn't (failures are inevitable in gardening) and try different things for next year.

Glad someone has made the point about Spanish bluebells. Just don't! Make sure they're British native.
We planted a wildflower meadow in autumn 2019. It was out lockdown pleasure, seeing everything come up.
We're chancing sowing some orchid seeds this spring. Apparently they rarely germinate but we have 3000 of the tiny things so we'll see!

Orchids are bizarre.

They're one of the first plants that it was realised needed a symbiotic fungus in the soil - at the time this was though strange, but it's since been discovered that over 90% of plant families make use of symbiotic fungi. The seeds are tiny and thus can float huge distances on the air. One orchid botanist said to me that if you don't have orchids it's because you don't have the right fungi, it won't be for lack of seeds. I like to think he was overstating it.

When they first grow, they grow little tubers underground (there's a reason why inflammation of the testicles shares a name with orchids), hence the need for the symbiotic fungi. Depending on species, it may be months or years before they throw up a flowering spike and are seen above ground.

Fantastic orchid info! Sounds like
I must bet beat myself up if they don't appear!

One orchid botanist said to me that if you don't have orchids it's because you don't have the right fungi, it won't be for lack of seeds. I like to think he was overstating it.

He could be right... a bit like, if I don't have poppies springing up in my border it's a sure sign I've not dug it for a while.

I think orchids are particularly dependent on these fungi because the seeds are so tiny they don't contain food for the developing plant, they need an external source. I've seen references to the seeds being germinated in agar as an alternative source of nutrition.

They ARE tiny. I allegedly have 3000 seeds and they are the tiniest seeds I have ever seen - less that half a teaspoonful!

I've just bought these .

@ErrolTheDragon

One orchid botanist said to me that if you don't have orchids it's because you don't have the right fungi, it won't be for lack of seeds. I like to think he was overstating it.

He could be right... a bit like, if I don't have poppies springing up in my border it's a sure sign I've not dug it for a while.

I think orchids are particularly dependent on these fungi because the seeds are so tiny they don't contain food for the developing plant, they need an external source. I've seen references to the seeds being germinated in agar as an alternative source of nutrition.

It's not just as seeds, it's through the whole life cycle. Even more important than mycorrhizal fungi for trees/ roses etc. It's an obligate symbiotic relationship

spot who has a biology degree!!

I think orchids are particularly dependent on these fungi because the seeds are so tiny they don't contain food for the developing plant, they need an external source. Yes, precisely that. Or alternatively, because orchids have a symbiotic relationship with fungi, they don't need to equip their seeds with enough food to get them going, so the seeds can be smaller and light and disperse much further.

It's not just as seeds, it's through the whole life cycle. It's most important to the developing seedling in the underground stage, less important once the orchid is throwing up shoots and photosynthesising. But still needed, as you say.