Andromeda Polifolia Bog-Rosemary
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Top 50 Acid-Tolerant Garden plants you can grow in the UK in acidic soil to help our pollinating insects List Curated by Thomas McBride From research data collected and collated at the National Botanic Garden of Wales NB: Butterflies and Moths are not studied at the NBGW so any data on nectar plants beneficial for them is taken from Butterfly Conservation What are Acid-tolerant Plants? All soil has a natural pH factor which determines the type of plants that can be grown in it. Most garden soils are neutral (pH 6.5-7) and are suitable for most plants; as long as other requirements are met. A small area of Britain has alkaline soil (pH 7.5-8) but the majority of areas that do not have neutral soil have mild to strongly acidic soils with a pH of between 5 and 6. These areas are often in the uplands such as the Brecon Beacons or near to heathland. In areas of moderate to strongly acidic soil, and soil may have to be partially neutralised in order to plant a wide variety of plants. If this is not possible, or you are particularly interested in growing plants that favour acidic NB: many Hydrangea soil, this list should cover you. macrophylla cultivars How do I know if a plant is acid-tolerant? turn blue in acidic soil! Determining whether or not a plant is acid-tolerant from its appearance is nigh-on impossible. However, there are particular families to look out for. This list can definitely be used as an initial guide but there are lots of possible plants out there. When making soil more acidic or growing with acidic soil, you might add ericaceous compost. Ericaceous means acidic but comes from the heather flower (Erica). All plants in the Ericaceae family are acid- tolerant, most are acid-loving, so this is a great place to begin. Moorlands are acidic which can be shown by the wildflowers being predominately heather. Many shrubs are acid-tolerant such as members of the Hydrangea family, Magnolia family and Viburnum family. The Currant family, Grossulariaceae, is also acid-tolerant so these are a must if you are looking to grow edibles. Finally, there are only a few herbaceous plants that are acid-tolerant but try the poppy family, buttercup family and daisy family. Make sure to research each plant beforehand to be sure! Map Maps depict the native area of the plant (in green) Guide to using these pages: They also show areas the plant is naturalised (in purple) Latin Binomial All maps shown Name are derived from ‘Plants of the Common World Online’; English courtesy of Kew Name Gardens Flowering Period Photograph (this is when it is good of the plant for pollinators!) in flower Plant Family Insect groups known to Growing habit favour the and mature size nectar of this of the plant plant Useful knowledge or warnings about the plant RHS AGM cultivars of this species (or a related species occasionally) i Key to these Pages Warnings Additional information on these garden plants This plant would The flowers only be suitable for and/or leaves meadow-style have a Pleasant Plant tissue is highly planting scent toxic if ingested The plant has edible parts that are Sap may cause irritation Plant is often used in commonly eaten or (Wash hands after touching traditional Herbal Remedies used in cooking or avoid touching) ii Temperature RHS Hardiness Scale Some of the plants listed in our Top 200 are not fully H1a - Above 15ºC hardy in all or some parts of the United Kingdom. H1b - Minimum 10ºC Plants without a thermometer symbol are fully hardy in the severest UK Winter; equating to H5 or hardier. H1c - Minimum 5ºC Plants with a coloured thermometer symbol are hardy to varying degrees as follows: H2 - Minimum 1ºC H3 - Minimum -5ºC H4 - Minimum -10ºC H5 - Minimum -15ºC Almost Hardy Half-Hardy Not Frost Hardy Not Hardy (H4) (H3) (H2) (H1) iii Pollinators Our data on pollinators has been collected from studies spanning over a decade. Pollinator symbols appear when plants are proven to be good nectar (a) (b) plants for certain insects. It should be noted that all bee and hoverfly data is ours but lepidoptera data is taken from Butterfly Conservation. Our data spans a wide range of different insect species. For simplicity, these species have been condensed into six easy icons to represent them: (c) (d) a) Honeybees c) Bumblebees e) Moths b) Hoverflies d) Butterflies f) Solitary Bees (Includes Moths) (e) (f) iv Actinidia chinensis Golden Kiwi China - None - Spring . Actinidiaceae Kiwi Family 10ft+ Climber Photograph from Flickr (CC) Manuel M. V. & Ting Chen (Flower) 1 N. America & Andromeda polifolia Eurasia Bog-rosemary ‘Compacta’ Mid Spring - Early Summer ‘Macrophylla’ Ericaceae Heather Family Small Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Kerry Woods Acidic Marsh 2 Anemone hupehensis var. japonica Japanese Anemone East Asia ‘Pamina’ Summer . ‘Rotkäppchen’ Ranunculaceae Buttercup Family 3ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Sen Itto 3 Arbutus unedo Mediterranean & Ireland Strawberry Tree ‘Atlantic’ Autumn . f. rubra Ericaceae Heather Family Small Tree Photograph from Wikipedia (CC) Umberto Ferrando, Markus Nolf (fruit) 4 Berberis darwinii S. America Darwin’s Barberry - Species - Spring . x media (Hybrid with B. empetrifolia) Berberidaceae Barberry Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Harry McGregor 5 Calluna vulgaris Eurasia Common Heather ‘Dark Beauty’ Early Summer - Early Autumn ‘Spring Cream’ Ericaceae Heather Family Small Subshrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Andreas Rockstein 6 Camellia japonica Japanese Camellia East Asia ‘Hagoromo’ Spring . ‘Pink Perfection*’ Theaceae Tea Family Medium Shrub * Fully double flowered cultivars are not good for pollinating Photograph from Flickr (CC) Eric Hunt insects so try to buy single flowers (see photo) when7 possible. Ceanothus arboreus California Island Californian-Lilac ‘Autumnal Blue’ Mid Spring - Early Summer ‘Trewithen Blue’ Rhamnaceae Buckthorn Family Small Tree * This plant will not survive below -10’c night temperatures, protect from very harsh winter nights Photograph from Flickr (CC) Eliot Phillips, Johnson Earls (Close-up) 8 Ceanothus thyrsiflorus N. America Blueblossom Californian-Lilac ‘Mystery Blue’ Mid Spring - Early Summer var. repens Rhamnaceae Buckthorn Family Medium Shrub* * This plant will not survive below -10’c night Photograph from Flickr (CC) Kirt Edbom temperatures, protect from very harsh winter nights *C. thyrsiflorus var. repens is a climbing version. 9 Other cultivars are generally more shrub-like in habit. N. America & Cornus canadensis East Asia Creeping Dogwood None Late Spring - Early Summer Cornaceae Dogwood Family 1ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Kerry Woods 10 Cornus sanguinea Europe Common Dogwood ‘Magic Flame’ Summer . ‘Anny’s Winter Orange’ Cornaceae Dogwood Family Large Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Andreas Rockstein 11 Daboecia cantabrica Europe St. Dabeoc’s Heather ‘Silverwells’ Early Summer - Mid Autumn ‘Waley’s Red’ Ericaceae Heather Family Small Subshrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Mercedes Blanco 12 Enkianthus perulatus Dodan-tsutsuji East Asia - Species - Spring . Ericaceae Heather Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Ume Y 13 Erica arborea Afro-Eurasia Tree Heather * var. alpina Spring . ‘Estrella Gold’ Ericaceae Heather Family Medium Shrub * This plant will not survive below -10’c night Photograph from Flickr (CC) Tim Waters temperatures, protect from very harsh winter14 nights Erica carnea Europe Winter Heather ‘Eva’ ‘Vivellii’ Mid Winter - Early Spring ‘Winter Snow’ Ericaceae Heather Family Small Subshrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Maja Dumat 15 Fragaria x ananassa N. America S. America Garden Strawberry Fragaria virginiana x Fragaria chiloensis Fragaria Fragaria virginiana chiloensis Spring . ‘Cambridge Fav.’ ‘Rhapsody’ Summer . (Berries) Rosaceae Rose Family 2ft Trailing Annual Photograph from Flickr (CC) Maja Dumat 16 Grevillea rosmarinifolia Australia Rosemary-leaved Grevillea East Asia - Species - Midwinter - Early Summer ‘Canberra Gem’ (Hybrid with G. juniperina) Proteaceae Protea Family Small Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Richard Lane 17 Hamamelis mollis Chinese Witch-hazel China ‘Jermyns Gold’ Mid Winter - Early Spring ‘Wisley Supreme’ Hamamelidaceae Witch-hazel Family Large Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Wendy Cutler 18 Hemerocallis fulva Orange Daylily East Asia ‘Cayenne’ Summer . ‘Selma Longlegs’ Asphodelaceae Asphodel Family 3ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Thomas Cizauskas 19 Hydrangea aspera Rough-leaved Hydrangea East Asia ‘Anthony Bullivant’ Midsummer - Early Autumn ‘Peter Chappell’ Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Steve Law 20 Hydrangea macrophylla Large-leaf Hydrangea Japan ‘Hanabi’ ‘Zorro’ Summer . ‘Quadricolour’ Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) CyprusPictures 21 Hydrangea quercifolia Oak-leaved Hydrangea N. America ‘Snow Queen’ Summer . ‘Snowflake’ Hydrangeaceae Hydrangea Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) J Biochemist 22 Europe & Ilex aquifolium N. Africa European Holly Spring . ‘Amber’ ‘Argentea’ ‘Golden Queen’ A/W (Berries) Aquifoliaceae Holly Family Medium Tree Photograph from Flickr (CC) Randi Hausken, Bjorn S(Flowers) 23 Kalmia latifolia N. America Mountain-laurel ‘Freckles’ Mid Spring - Early Summer ‘Pink Charm’ Ericaceae Heather Family Medium Shrub Photograph from Flickr (CC) Nicholas A. Tonelli 24 Lamprocapnos spectabilis Bleeding Heart East Asia - Species - Mid Spring - Early Summer ‘Alba’ ‘Valentine’ Papaveraceae Poppy Family 2ft Perennial Photograph from Flickr (CC) Mark Wordy 25