Having a little botanical rant here.
Summer solstice, and the local grass verges are looking amazing. I am lucky in that I live in Cumbria in the middle of nowhere and that the County Council doesn’t get round to mowing our verges till the autumn. Also that the nearest large village is surrounded by what the CC designates “special verges” of high botanical importance.
All this makes me dubious when people in other areas post photographs on social media of big urban areas which are sowing “wild flowers” in “meadows” (quotation marks for irony). These are sown with seed mixes containing arable annuals, including non-natives such as the California Poppy and French Spinach (Red Orache). The result may be pretty but by definition, these are not meadows, which are permanent grassland not arable fields. It’s gardening – admirable, well carried out, eye-catching, but not, as some claim, restoring degraded habitat. It’s more colourful and a bit more diverse than super-mown grass verges, and it saves the councils some expense, which is a fair enough reason to do it, but outside of urban settings it’s inappropriate.
I fear for the natural British flora at the hands of well intentioned but uninformed gardeners.
As I mentioned above, I’m in a rural area. Step out of the farm gate with me, onto the lane which is an ancient drove road, in its heyday a route for cattle and goods being walked into the industrial towns. It’s mown once a year now by the Council, in September or October. I don’t suppose it held as much flora or insect life in the old days as it does now – travelling hooves and teeth will have seen to that. But there were meadows and moorland either side of it and when the hooves and teeth disappeared, it came back.
The verges now are astonishingly diverse.
Walk 200 yards each way with me. Instead of the scientific binomials that I have come to prefer I’ll give you common English names, which to a writer are as much of a joy as the flowers and plants themselves.
Northwards:
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Grasses: Rye grass
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Rough meadow grass
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Wavy hair grass
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Quaking grass
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Sweet vernal grass
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Yorkshire fog
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False Oat
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False brome
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Cocksfoot
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Ferns: Male Fern
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Lady Fern
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Shrubs: Northern Downy Rose
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Sherard’s Downy Rose
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Summer snowflake (an escape from my garden, not planted)
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Geranium macrorrhizum (an escape from my garden, not planted)
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Giant Bellflower (native but an escape from my garden, not planted)
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Wood cranesbill
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Meadow cranesbill
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Herb Robert
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Nipplewort
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Meadow vetchling
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Bush vetch
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Birds-foot trefoil
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White clover
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Red clover
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Feverfew
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Cinquefoil
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Silverweed
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Meadow buttercup
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Bulbous buttercup
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Common chickweed
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Mouse-ear chickweed
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Common sallow
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Eyebright
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Great willowherb
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Lady’s mantle
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Water avens
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Mouse-ear hawkweed
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Rough hawkbit
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Marsh thistle
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Spear thistle
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3 different species of dandelions
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Common daisy
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Ox-eye daisy
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Germander speedwell
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Field speedwell
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Meadowsweet
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Betony
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Self-heal
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Hedge woundwort
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Harebell
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Crosswort
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Common sorrel
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Cow parsley
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Black Knapweed
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Garlic Mustard
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Hedge bedstraw
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Lady’s bedstraw
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Foxglove
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Yarrow
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Welsh Poppy
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Ribwort plantain
Southwards
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Grasses: Rye grass
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Rough meadow grass
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Wavy hair grass
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Sweet vernal grass
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Yorkshire fog
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False Oat
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Cocksfoot
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Ferns: Male Fern
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Lady Fern
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Common Polypody
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Shrubs: Common sallow
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Bay willow
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Blackthorn
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Wild plum (Prunus domestica)
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Hawthorn
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Bird cherry
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Ash
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Hazel
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Northern Downy Rose
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Sherard’s Downy Rose
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Wood cranesbill
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Meadow cranesbill
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Herb Robert
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Shining cranesbill
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Meadow vetchling
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Bush vetch
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Tufted vetch
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Birds-foot trefoil
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White clover
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Red clover
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Cinquefoil
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Silverweed
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Meadow buttercup
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Celandine
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Common chickweed
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Mouse-ear chickweed
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Broad-leaved willowherb
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Lady’s mantle
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Water avens
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Wood avens
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Rough hawkbit
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Marsh thistle
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3 different species of dandelions
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Ox-eye daisy
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Goat’s-beard
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Germander speedwell
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Field speedwell
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Meadowsweet
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Betony
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Self-heal
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Hedge woundwort
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Crosswort
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Common sorrel
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Cow parsley
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Pignut
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Raspberry
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Wild strawberry
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Barren strawberry
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Common Dog-violet
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Blinks
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Brooklime
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Black Knapweed
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Melancholy thistle
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Garlic Mustard
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Lady’s Smock
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Wood forgetmenot
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Changing forgetmenot
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Cleavers
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Hedge bedstraw
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Lady’s bedstraw
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Hogweed
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Foxglove
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Yarrow
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Red Campion
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Welsh Poppy
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Ribwort plantain
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And the odd nettle and common dock, but not many because everything else keeps them in check.
These lists are from memory alone…And that’s without going half a mile up the road where the verges are graced by Northern Marsh Orchid and Common Spotted Orchid and a myriad of their hybrids, plus Bilberry, Lemon-Scented Fern and Hard Fern. All on the roadside.
If I went out with a clipboard throughout the year and noted everything I saw either side of our house I could easily list up to 100 species of plant in a quarter-mile of road.
Lots of plant diversity brings lots of insect diversity, plentiful insects bring diverse bird and animal life.
Many other verges can be as diverse as ours if they are not mown to within an inch of their life by lawn-obsessives – and if they are spared the attentions of the sow-a-meadow apostles.
Yes, OK, sow native annuals where you have already got a degraded grass verge.
But leave the good’uns alone please.