Flora

Flora of Headless Cross Green

and

Community Orchard

After the demolition of shops and houses to make way for a new road layout in the 1970s, Headless Cross Green was little more than a rough grass area. It was mowed on a regular basis by the local council which made for a neat Green but it was low on biodiversity. With the Headless Cross Volunteers taking control of the Green a community orchard was planted and wild flowers encouraged to grow. There were a few that had naturally colonised the Green such as Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens), Black knapweed (Centaurea nigra), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) to mention just a few.

Many seeds were sown and plants such as Yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor), which is semi-parasitic on grass and helps to increase diversity and encourages other flowers to grow. Two sides of the Green were sown with Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) and Wild carrot (Daucus carota) with a sprinkling of Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) and Corn flower (Centaurea cyanus). Around one stand of trees plugs of Dark mullien (Verbascum nigrum) and Perforated St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) were planted along with other species.

Sadly, some of the species did not flourish, such as Viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare), which appeared for a couple of seasons but has not been seen for some time.

Take a look at the wild flower gallery to see the flowers and fungi that can be found, or have been found, on the Green.