{"id":581,"date":"2011-05-20T01:37:41","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T08:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=581"},"modified":"2012-02-04T03:53:34","modified_gmt":"2012-02-04T10:53:34","slug":"seed-heads-for-wild-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/gardening\/environmental-gardening\/seed-heads-for-wild-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Grow Seedheads for Wild Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/5207607574\/\" title=\"Teasel seedheads by brianpettinger, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4131\/5207607574_6cbd9fb763.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" alt=\"Teasel seedheads\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/teasel-011.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-582 aligncenter\" title=\"teasel-011\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/teasel-011-208x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"208\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/teasel-011-208x300.jpg 208w, https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/teasel-011.jpg 312w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 208px) 100vw, 208px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>What you can do to help feed wild life and your garden birds.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Leave seed heads on your plants like the Teasel (above) which are great for Goldfinches<\/li>\n<li>Small mammals like the bigger seeds such as nasturtiums and pulses. Peas and beans\tcan be left on plant not only to collect seeds for next year but as a food for wildlife.<\/li>\n<li>Berries are looking good at the moment. Enjoy their looks and as they ripen the birds will also enjoy them as dinner. Pyracantha and cotoneaster seem to be favourites at the moment.<\/li>\n<li>Most importantly plan now to have more seed heads for next year\t<\/li>\n<li>Do not be over keen to tidy up. A rough area encourages insects many of which like a feast of seeds. Insects are also more than food for thought.<\/li>\n<li>Sun flowers are popular so try several varieties\u00c2\u00a0 from a seed catalogue<\/li>\n<li>Grasses with plumes and arching flowers look good and taste good<\/li>\n<li>Echinacea and Amaranthus are prolific seeders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Try reading a specialist book for more ideas<\/strong> <a href=\" http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0881927961\/richardpettin-21\"> Seedheads in the Garden <\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0881927961\/richardpettin-21\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.amazon.com\/images\/P\/0881927961.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg\" alt=\"Book Cover\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I have often wondered if birds and insects can tell different flavours of seeds. Humans could tell an Allium from a Sunflower or a Poppy from a Dill seed so may be wild life can too.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/5207618510\/\" title=\"allium seedheads by brianpettinger, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4152\/5207618510_4981146407.jpg\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" alt=\"allium seedheads\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sea Holly<\/strong> or  Eryngium giganteum variety Miss Willmotts Ghost (below) will produce seedheads full of nutritious seeds for the birds and insects.<br \/>\nWith all that pollination going on I am not surprised.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/3746151092\/\" title=\"Willmotts Ghost by brianpettinger, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2441\/3746151092_2142105031.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"Willmotts Ghost\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Hedgerows<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>One of the best places to grow seeds is in your hedges.<\/li>\n<li>Wild life has shelter safety and food on tap in a hedgerow. <\/li>\n<li>You do not need to have an untidy area of the garden.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/2988168013\/\" title=\"Haws by brianpettinger, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3033\/2988168013_2f753fe4f3.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"Haws\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hawthorn and Holly are two typically British hedgerow plants that feed our native wild life.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/4061286953\/\" title=\"Holly in the Wild by brianpettinger, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2610\/4061286953_4636657a22.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"Holly in the Wild\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For a slender and graceful specimen tree that will help feed wild life you could try growing a Mountain Ash, The Rowan or Sorbus aucuparia <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/hortoris\/3874391621\/\" title=\"mountain ash by brianpettinger, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2541\/3874391621_1e4dc06422.jpg\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" alt=\"mountain ash\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For those without the desire to grow there own seeds for the benefit of wildlife then there are many great feed mixes available. RSPB supply in large sacks and there are a host of other retailers.<br \/>\nPlease be consistent if you start to feed with bought seed products and wildlife become reliant on your supply.<\/p>\n<p>Read <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=12267\">Pollinators for Green Gardening<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seeds, berries and seedheads help feed birds insects and mammals so grow a wildlife deli in your garden<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmental-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}