Kitchen Garden Forum

I have a small paddock and for the last 20 years have been naturalising Snakes Heads, they usually set seed in a big pod which are full of seeds , this year for the first time I can't find a single set pod , anyone got an idea ? I have the theory that there is a shortage of Bumble Bees , they are usually to be seen crawling in & out of the flowers

I'd be interested to hear what other forum members say about shortage or otherwise of bumblebees. Despite a lot of flowers/blossom in bloom here in urban Kent, bee numbers of all sorts seem to me to be low this year. And the bumblebee trust which has a website might be interested to hear about the fritillary problem. Systemic insecticides on rape crops are suspected of being a threat.

My first thought was frost but we had quite a sharp frost just as they were finishing and I've just been to have a look and there are quite a lot of seed pods, not very big yet but look OK. Still think it could be frost if yours were caught more than mine or at a different stage. We have masses of Bumble and other Bees in all sorts of species, my favourites at the moment are the Tawny Mining Bees on the Currants and Gooseberries. There is no intensive farming nearby.
https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-and-hab ... mining-bee

The weather may have been too cold or windy or both for insects to be flying when the flowers were ready to pollinate so they haven't set seed. I've seen lots of bumblebees on the warm days, but nothing much has been flying on the very cold days we've had in May. I'm keeping an eye on the pear trees to see whether they have set any fruit as there was hardly anything flying to pollinate them when they were in blossom.

Thanks for all theories, I'm thinking it may just be an unfortunate combination of weather conditions, first time in about 20 years so not a big problem, it's not as though I'm short of Fritilleries after all this time but I was very curious.

We lost all of ours this year too and I assumed it was because of the wet. Our land tends to be rather damp and we've had a fair amount of rain, so we've lost all of ours.

The slugs ate all the flowers off mine this year - must be more vigilant next year.

Will SHF naturalist amongst wildflower and grasses if I give them a sporting chance ?

What I do with my wildflower areas is to kill off an area them plant established plants, mostly seeds don't cope with the competition. How about bulbs and corms ?

I had some success over 15 years, most of the failures have been down to subsoil being dragged up and used by the builders to replace top soil and whilst some plants thrive in very poor soil some need that little bit more.

Poor soil is one thing, poor soil that holds water doesn't support much at all. I have masses of colorful growth around our gravel drives. It's the good drainage isn't it ?

Ours are in poor damp soil that grows rushes and they are spreading.