The right to roam

As the garden ripens, the temptation to cut down those tatty old stems can be hard to resist. Apart from the fact that many seed-heads are beautifully architectural and provide a valuable winter larder for birds, there's another reason to hold on to your secateurs....the self-seeders.

Verbena bonariensis, Stipa tenuissima (ponytail grass) & Forget-me-not

Ok, admittedly some can be a pain, maybe are't even that nice and just threaten to take over. But choose carefully the ones you want to give the right to roam and it will be well worth the effort (or rather lack of effort).

You can of course collect seeds, dry and store them, in order to sow at your leisure in pots and then plant out in the garden. But if you are like me your stash of collected seed is growing larger, and dustier, and good intentions remain just that.

But..there is more to letting self-seeders do their own thing than just saving a bit of time. It's what they were born to do and they do it well. Giving a few selected plants the freedom to express themselves will add another dimension to the garden. They will refresh your planting each year, like a picture repainting itself, and add a refreshing element of fluidity.

They also know where they want to be and will often be happier and healthier in the place they choose for themselves, rather than the one you chose for them. The Knautia macedonia planted in our gravel garden soon had a downy blanket of mildew, but not thankfully before it had the chance to self-seed. Where it appeared the following year it thrived.

There's also the surprise of combinations that you would never think of. Ox-eye daisy growing through a rose, herb robert in a pot of black mondo grass (Ophiopogon 'Nigrescens') and magenta lychnis next to a fern (a combo that no gardening book would ever dare advise!) are a few that have happened to us.

On top of their charm, vitality and relaxed nature, self-seeders are also often a little more closely related to their wild cousins, and as such many are favourites of bees and butterflies.

So, all in all, what's not to love?

To get the most out of these self-starters, and not lose more control than you can deal with in the process, here's a trick. Vary the depth of mulch in your borders, or the gravel on your paths, to control how much seeding takes place. Thinner mulch in the places you want new arrivals to take root, and thicker elsewhere.

It's also worth taking time to learn to identify the leaves of your chosen few. It's not as hard as it might sound as many itinerant flowers, like foxgloves and achillea, have quite distinct leaves, even when young. The sooner you can thin out the patches of seedlings, just leaving the ones you are happy to grow on to maturity, the better.

Here's a selection of plants worth giving a free pass to. To avoid too much of a free-for-all, start with a few you especially like, before building up your collection of wild ones:-

Foxglove

Lychnis

Achillea

Oxe-eye daisy

Verbena bonariensis

Knautia macedonia

Luzula sylvatica (grass)

Stipa tenuissima (grass)

Polystichum setiferum (fern)

Asplenium scolopendrium (fern)

Alchemilla mollis

Nepeta

Honesty (Lunaria annua)

Sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis)

Mallow (Malva sylvestris)

Herb Robert (is prolific, but easy to pull out)

Wild sorrel (can be a little too wild)

Forget-me-not