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Will clover take over my wild flower meadow? How to control clover.

Hi I have a good patch of ground that used to be the perfect lawn I got very fed up with that and turned it over to wildflowers and fruit trees at this time I have got an amazing display of cowslips I have also let white clover grow and have got two decent sized patches..my question is will the clover eventually stop the cowslips and other wildflowers from growing as I dont want this to happen..many thanks

Hi Junojen,

Thanks for your comment on wildflowers and meadows. It's an area of garden design that I'm passionate about.

Clover in a flower bed can be a real pain, it twists and contorts through other plants sometimes smothering them and getting tangled up. Trifolium repens white clover is most common and then red clover. Both of which are classed as a weed but they do have great benefits for wildlife if they are in the right place. Clover has distinctive trefoil (three-part) leaves. Their stems are tough and string-like that can then root into the soil as they spread.

However, Clover in a meadow or wild lawn is a different beast. I'd be tempted to leave it. It's a valuable source of pollen for butterflies, bumblebees and insects. Not to mention food for mammals like rabbits in the wild. The flowers are rather gorgeous too take a look at the red Clover below!

If I were you I'd leave it and if it gets too dominant weed some of it our with a hori hori. Maybe keep the area around the Primroses 'Clover free'. In the wild Primroses and Clover would happily coexist though!

You can read more on wild flower meadow management here.

Happy gardening

Lee

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