The soil in the Orchard is a natural seed bank and it turns out that many different wildflower seeds are being stored there. As we have been doing clearing work, and disturbing the soil to dig out nettles or plant new hedging, dormant seeds have been given a chance to grow up into the light. Some of the plants are new to us. Compared to what we first recorded in 2021, last year we counted six ‘new’ species and again this year we found a similar number.
Here are a couple of plants that we noticed for the first time this year. They are both members of the Daisy family and they both arrived on our shores in the 1700s. However the way that they came here was very different, the first arrived accidentally but the second was brought here on purpose.
Conyza canadensis - Canadian fleabane
Two specimens turned up growing close up by what we call the Queen apple tree. This fleabane is a plant originally native to North and Central America, where it has become a problem weed in soya bean fields and it is known there as Horseweed. Here with us it has a rather unassuming look, a tallish weedy annual growing in arable land and having very small colourless flowers and fluffy seed heads. It isn’t a problem in the UK. It also thrives in man-made environments such as the pavements in city streets. It can now be found from Cornwall right up to Scotland, and it seems to have spread rapidly north in recent years perhaps as a result of the warming climate. Read more...
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