Organic Plants And Seeds From Bee Happy Plants
Supplying organic plants and seeds, organic herbs, shrubs and trees – loved by bees and pollinators!
WORLDWIDE DELIVERY
Authorised to issue 'Plant Passports' and 'Supplier Documents' on a range of species identified as at risk.
About Us
We are Organic Growers
situated on 14 acres of organic land (certified by the UK Soil
Association – reg number G8492), incorporating permaculture principles,
and where we are establishing a Bee Sanctuary with profits from our
organic plants and seed sales.
Speciality
All of our organic
plants and seeds are varieties which are favourites with bees, and
attractive to a range of pollinators. Most of them are also culinary or
medicinal herbs or fruit.
Our range is totally organic and
includes: Potted and plug plants, culinary herbs, medicinal herbs,
shrubs, trees, wildflowers and wild plants. We also supply organic seeds
and wild species seeds. This of course means there are no chemical
residues in any of our products.
We also organically propagate
any species of plants, for which we stock seed, to order. Please contact
us to confirm your requirements.
Coming Soon
Heritage varieties of vegetables will soon be available.
We
believe heritage variety vegetables are highly important, and need to
be encouraged in gardens. Vegetables from heritage seeds have been
slowly bred over time; their seed is viable. They depend on
open-pollination which benefits pollinators and thereby contain a far
greater gene pool than modern uniform cultivars.
This means the
seeds can be harvested and preserved for future generations, to ensure
diversity and stability of food supply (rather than dependence on
commercial growers who are increasingly using a smaller number of
cultivars which are increasingly not open-pollinated).
All
open-pollinated plants, which include wild species plants, heritage
cultivars, and many modern ‘OP cultivars’ which are allowed to flower,
are also better for bees and all other pollinators.
If we do not
keep on growing heritage varieties, these plants will disappear, as
commercial growers are more and more growing F1 hybrids (even organic
growers – because of pressure by supermarkets for ‘perfect’ looking
vegetables). These seed also cannot be saved.
Ultimately with so
few cultivars in circulation, and so few being open-pollinated, we will
be left with almost no choice in each vegetable type. The several
hundred years of vegetable plant breeding – with its massive and diverse
gene-pool - will be lost for all future generations.
Likewise,
if we do not keep on growing wild plants in our gardens, they too could
become extinct. Representing a loss of many millions of years
evolutionary development on each species, but more importantly, it means
the loss of pollinators which have symbiotic relationships, and
dependency, with theses wild plants.
Our Philosophy
We support organic plants and seeds and open-pollinated varieties of plants (that is, pollinated naturally by insects such as bees, in the field) and wild plants, because we feel this is better for biodiversity.
1. "Happy Plants Make Happy Bees!"
We propagate all our plants FROM SEED, and are helping to save HERITAGE Seed.
The reason we propagate from seed is to promote a healthy genetic diversity.
Many
large garden centre chains propagate by cutting (this is because
cuttings reach a saleable size more quickly) – often bright, highly
cultivated plants, with minimal value to pollinators.
There are huge drawbacks for the environment in filling our gardens with such cultivars:
- Cultivars, or 'clones' are artificially altered wild plants which no longer produce viable wild seed and therefore can no longer evolve naturally as nature intended, to environmental influences such as climate change, pest or disease evolution. This means we have 'tight-jacketed' this plant species' ability to survive a changing environment.
- They only have the life expectancy of the parent altered plant.
- They contain any disease the parent altered plant may have.
- Their blooms have been artificially bred solely for their 'eye-candy', but have minimal if any value for pollinators. Those plants are created purely for money-making, not for the health of the environment or pollinators.
2. No Chemicals
On our 14 acres full of
organic plants and herbs, we do not use chemicals, and the use of
chemicals should be avoided more widely.
Nature asserts its
own balance in the garden. There are beneficial insects which will not
let the pests dominate. There are beneficial fungi which will not let
the bad fungi dominate. The weeds can be kept in check by mowing, or
crowding out with beneficial ground-cover plants.
Provide wild
areas for beneficial insects (such as large patches of nettles) and
never cut these, and you will be amazed! You will have all you need to
keep a check on any pest - they are a necessary food for our
bug-friends!
You can read more about Bee Happy Plants, and our
range of organic plants and seeds on our website, as well as order goods
for worldwide delivery.
Bee Happy Plants Ltd,
Lakehayes Organic Nursery (Wholesale Nursery),
South Chard,
Somerset,
TA20 2NZ.
Go to BEE HAPPY PLANTS
(link opens new window)
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