A British native meadow wildflower which is one of the best nectar and pollen providers for Short and Long-tongued Bumblebees, Honeybees and Solitary Bees. The nectar is secreted exceptionally freely and is considered one of the highest yielding forage plants.
This perennial legume has pinky-red flowers from May to September. Grow in a wildflower meadow or wildlife area or in a bed or border in any free-draining soil.
Extremely drought tolerant and will grow in fertile or very poor soil.
Until Victorian times this plant was a valued forage crop for grazing animals. Highly prized by bee keepers now.
Height and Spread: 75cm x 45cm (but typically sprawls and grows through and among other foliage unless supported)
Common names: Common Sainfoin; Single-cut Sainfoin.
Photo: javier martin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
All our plants are supplied in 9cm pots unless otherwise specified. Plants in this size pot establish quickly in the garden and often outpace plants in bigger pots planted at the same time. Our potted plants can be planted immediately, unless otherwise noted, or you can leave them in their pots until you are ready to plant.
The majority of our plants are grown outdoors. This means that they follow their natural growth patterns and are ready to plant at any time of the year. If you order the plants in winter, they are likely to be dormant and died back to ground level, ready to shoot again in spring - just like the herbaceous perennials in your own garden. Very occasionally, in winter and early spring, we may indicate on the packing slip that a plant needs to be hardened off before planting out. This will be because it has just come out of a polytunnel. If you have any questions about our plants or growing methods, please feel free to drop us an email.
We grow most of what we sell ourselves, in our nursery in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Our prices include VAT at 20%.
Please note: We do our best to provide acurate photographs of the plants we sell, but colours display differently on different screens, printers and in different light and we cannot guarantee that what you are seeing on your screen, or on the plant label provided, will exactly match the plant when it flowers in your garden. Plant dimensions are given as a guide only and the actual sizes reached may vary from garden to garden, depending on local conditions.
