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- Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), wild form, three plants in three 7cm square pots
Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), wild form, three plants in three 7cm square pots
Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria)
An attractive plant for the garden or larger greenspace, Kidney Vetch has round clusters of small flowers which have a characteristic woolly appearance; they are usually yellow, but sometimes orange and red. The leaves are silky and white underneath. It can cope with dry conditions and is found on chalk grassland, cliffs and limestone areas, and around the coast of most of Britain.
Biodiversity value
Flowering from around April to September, Kidney Vetch is a great source of nectar for adult butterflies and other pollinating insects. It is also a favourite foodplant of caterpillars of the delightful Small Blue Butterfly (Cupido minimus) which as its name suggests is one of our smallest butterflies. The female Small Blue seeks out Kidney Vetch growing in a sunny sheltered spot on which to lay her eggs which she positions carefully within the flower buds, ensuring a ready food supply for the emerging caterpillars.
Growing Kidney Vetch
Kidney Vetch prefers neutral or alkaline soils, so ordinary garden compost is fine but it may not do well in the sort of acidic soils preferred by heathers or blueberries. It is very drought resistant. It is a short-lived perennial which propagates mainly by seed and needs regular disturbance of the soil to provide bare patches on which they can germinate if it is to persist year on year - easy enough to arrange in the garden. Seeds will germinate in cool spring temperatures before those of many other wildflowers.
Your Purchase
You are purchasing 3 kidney vetch plants (the native species not an agricultural cultivar) in 7 cm square pots that have been grown by us at our nursery in Cupar, Fife, from native seed.