Seeds are self sown when seeds germinate and grow without the help of a gardener. The majority of plants grow, flower, get pollinated then set seeds. If seeds are then distributed naturally from the plant they are self sown.

What Plants are Self Sown

• Weeds are among the most common self sown plants. I am thinking of Dandelions, Daisies and Buttercups but unfortunately there are lots more.
• Before cultivated gardens anything not grown for food was probably ‘nature sown’ in that the plant did it for it’s self.
• In a broadleaved wood you may get Oak trees growing from self sown acorns whilst Rowan and Elderberry are sown by birds eating berries and dropping seeds.
• Garden flowers that are commonly self sown include Foxgloves, Nigella, Candytuft, Poppy, For-get-me-not and Nasturtium.

How are Seeds Self Sown

• Wind distributes seeds that are very light or have a float mechanism like a Dandelion clock or Sycamore seed’s wings.
• Some seeds are expressed from seed pods by firing. Pansy seedpods tighten up and the ripe seed is squirted a good distance from the parent plant.
• Birds and animals including humans can be responsible for spreading seeds. Some stick to your clothing others are eaten but not digested like Tomatoes.

Top Ten Self-Sown Garden Plants

1. This list was compiled with the help of Crocus whose first choice was Alchemilla mollis aka Lady’s mantle, good for edging sunny and shady borders and filling cracks in paving.
2. Aquilegia ‘Nora Barlow’ or Columbines self-seed readily and are very easy to grow in sun or partial shade.

1. Campanula Bellflowers are very prolific in partial shade where it will produce its large trusses of deep lilac, white or slate-blue bell-shaped flowers all summer long. Although it self-seeds freely, the seedlings do not come true to type.
2. Hardy cyclamen have a reputation for being difficult to grow from seed unless it is really fresh, so one option is to let nature take its course and reap the harvest of self-sown seedlings. Both Cyclamen coum and Cyclamen. hederifolium self-seed themselves about and spread naturally through a chipped bark mulch to create wonderful swathes of winter colour in dappled shade. Plants can take 2-3 years before they flower.
3. Erigeron karvinskianus A real charmer with daisy-like flowers that’s ideal for a sunny, coastal or cottage-style gardens. Don’t introduce this plant to your garden if you are tidy minded!
4. Eryngium giganteum Miss Wilmott’s ghost, as it’s commonly called, was named after the 19th-century gardener, Ellen Wilmott, who liked to secretly scatter these seeds in other people’s gardens, so they would appear like magic the following season. The first guerrilla gardener perhaps.
5. Many hardy geraniums including Geranium endressii and Geranium pratense self-seed generously, scattering their seeds using explosive seedheads.
6. Lenten roses Helleborus orientalis cross-pollinate and self-seed as though it was going out of fashion and are as variable as the British climate.
7. Hesperis matronalis or sweet rocket is a weed in some parts of the country, because it self-seeds all over the place.
8. Honesty Lunaria annua self-seeds freely in dappled shade from its distinctive flat, shimmering, silvery-white seedpods that also make great dried stems for indoor arrangements.