Why won't my Brooms spread?

My Brooms won't seed themselves!

I was pleased; when my early year experiments with Broom, both in the garden and in the countryside; seemed to be going very well. From the first year after being planted; they flowered, podded and grew incredibly fast.

Most of the ones I have planted up here are from Burrator reservoir, near Yelverton and also from some damp woods, near Okehampton. Following my apparent success from earlier plantings; I planted them fairly excessively in year 6 and 7.
In the wild; they seem to occupy the areas around bogs and rivers and need a certain amount of companion plants nearby, as grass alone dose not provide enough nutrients for them.

Reason for Concern

Normally, I wouldn't be too bothered if a shrub or tree hadn't propagated it's self after the first few years, but Broom is a very short lived plant. I would say 6 years would be about the expected life span, for one of these bushes. Unlike their cousin the Gorse; Broom rush up and give it all they've got, then they suddenly die, when they have reached about 5'/1.5m.

Usually, in the wild; many young plants set seed, &/or fallen over specimens can layer and root into the ground and therefore spread vegetativly, but not here. The Brooms look so good at the moment, but if I can't work out how to get them to seed themselves; they could literally disappear, so soon after arriving. I mean; look at all these fat seed pods below. It's like this every year, but never do any seem to survive, to make little bushes.

I hope to find a solution to this problem and would appreciate any feed-back on the subject!

MEADOW SWEET

Collecting Meadow Sweet

Today I intended to set this article in the Teign gorge, where I intended to collect quite a few plants, on route to Exeter. Unfortunately; my bike wouldn't start, so I did it all here instead.

The clump of Meadow Sweet illustrated here to the right; is one of the first experimental specimens, which I planted, but I couldn't really hazard a guess, as to which year that might have been.

This established clump has spread herbaceously and seems to have seeded too, as there are other clumps around it. They are situated on the thin part of Upper Bee woods, which runs along the perimeter fence of Dartmoor Prison. in fact, this clump grows up right against the fence.

Now, these plants have thick rhizomes, which spread out about 5cm/2" under ground. I just stick my fingers into the damp earth, feel for the roots and the gently remove a chunk, with as much root ball, as I can get on it. As you can see, I get one from the middle, so as not to diminish the existing clump, in any way. Remove flowering stem and leave a few leaves.

Meadow Sweet's are one plant I really do want to encourage to grow up here. They are very common all around the moor, mainly lining damp bases of hedges. I have brought them up here to the top of the moors, from a wide variety of local sites, so hopefully; the gene-pool here will be sufficiently varied.

I am very impressed, with how these plants have done up here. Hopefully in a

few years time; they will be a common sight up here. I am sure that; with them a few more species of insects and other invertebrates will also arrive, which will strengthen the food chain an with it the overall ecosystem.

I don't think I will have to spend too much time planting Meadow Sweet, since it dose spread quite well. now that there's a healthy and genetically diverse population already established up here; all I need to do is to add a few more to locations, where there are still none, expecting that they will be able to be pollinated by those already exiting up here.

So, 2 years from now and I believe this will be a common plant of upper Dartmoor. But now, I think I ought to go and plant these, before they wilt.

Planting Meadow Sweet

Meadow Sweet is very easy to plant, cos it likes slightly damp ground, so soft earth can be clawed up quite easily and as usual; I haven't bothered to bring a trowel with me and have done all this with my bare hands.

This is the spot along the leat, where I buried my cat Sita, who passed away this year. I also planted some Sow Thistle and some Campion here to.

These plants are quite likely to grow here, but probably won't flower for about 2 years. After which; they will hopefully spread abundantly.

They produce allot of leafy habitat for creatures and have rather allot of medicinal uses.

Lime

Just a few

Small leaved Limes'

Lime Trees are one of our more quirky native deciduous trees. Able to flower, but not to produce seeds, due presumably to some past climatic changes. In UK this plant relies mainly on vegetative reproduction; from suckers at the base of the tree, and if a tree falls down, it can root in all the way along and form a line of trees.

This picture isn't terribly clear. It looks a bit like a Hazel, at first glance, but it isn't. It' a Lime.

This one and a hand full of others, were planted on years 2-3, experimentally, got from suckers from big trees in parks in Plymouth and Tavistock. I didn't realise that they actually had taken until about year 6 or 7, when I noticed a few poking up through the brambles, and then in year 8 I found a nursery, which sold Small Leafed Limes from Eastern Europe, which apparently 'can' produce seeds and I planted those in B-woods.

Around Dartmoor there are a few Limes, which have been planted and which are quite big. They certainly seem to like it here.

With their very thick tangled branches, they make a unique high up thicket habitat for all sorts of creatures.

Limes also have very beautifully scented flowers in the early Summer. They are one of our tallest and one of our densest trees. I added a few more little Eastern European Limes to Toe woods last season, just a few more. They seem to be pretty tough; recovering from being eaten pretty quickly and they are very able to cope with canopy and heavy competition.

Tree Images

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