The French Garden Blog

THE WILDFLOWER MEADOW

Above the house, where the soil is thin clay over a limestone bedrock, we have a meadow. Our neighbour, Monsieur D’Incau, a farmer, cuts it annually in July. It is a near ideal site for a wildflower meadow and in the seven years that we have been here this is what we have used it as.

In fact we have another area of grassland where the topsoil is thicker and the slope is to the east and the north – so it is a cooler aspect altogether. He cuts this too, but because of the richness and dampness of the earth it is more of a pasture than a wildflower meadow. He prefers this, because the yield in terms of hay is better, but we prefer the thin poorly nourished meadow to the south. It is our good fortune that the house overlooks the latter and we get to look out across our wildflowers and the insect and bird life they encourage, throughout the spring and early summer.

A wildflower meadow needs poor ground. This encourages flowers rather than grasses. The grasses that do grow are also encouraged to flower and set seed rather than become lush and fat; so they develop beautiful plume like seed heads early in the season.

 I do believe that a plant is genetically encouraged to flower and seed more prolifically and more quickly in harsh conditions. It is nature’s way of ensuring that the species survives. In tough conditions you need to produce the next generation fast in order to avoid extinction. The seeds which are so quickly set and then distributed are little survival capsules packed with a plant’s DNA. They wait for the right conditions to come along. When they do – normally the following year, but it could be decades- the miracle happens and they germinate, ensuring the species’ success for another generation. I have no doubt that higher organisms behave in the same way, but perhaps less obviously.

Anyway – our wildflower meadow has now passed its peak. It starts with orchids – the meadow becomes a sea of purple - we then have clover, daisies, ragwort (sadly), milkmaids, ‘old man’s tobacco’, teasels and vetches. These attract a wonderful assortment of butterflies, insects, small snakes and lizards, tiny mammals and larger mammals such as hare, roe deer and our neighbour’s cattle if they manage to break through the fence. The grasses take over, growing to almost a meter high and then the ground begins to dry out, the plants begin to brown and Monsieur D’Incau takes the hay. He never fertilizes the ground (thankfully – because that would spoil the meadow) and never cuts it so early that the plants can’t release their seeds.

We have done nothing to interfere with the natural balance of the meadow. Each year I think I should introduce yellow rattle; a valuable plant in this type of meadow because it is parasitic in nature and so weakens the soil, thus enhancing the wild flower environment. But I never do because I don’t want to upset the harmony we currently have. How long will it last? I really don’t know; I just enjoy what we have been given.