Everything you wanted to know about Horseshoe Vetch Seeds

Horseshoe Vetch –hippocrepis comosa

grows best in light well-drained grassland and is suited to chalk and limestone soils on sites where there is plenty of sunlight. Plants host a wide range of insect life such as Bees, Butterflies and Caterpillars. Horseshoe Vetch is a very important plant for breeding butterflies, attracting a variety of species in the wild, such as the Adonis Blue, Chalkhill Blue, Silver-Studded Blue and Dingy Skipper, all of which will lay their eggs on the plant. This species is low growing, with yellow flowers, that appear from May to August resembling those of Bird’s foot trefoil. Horseshoe Vetch looks best growing with other chalk and limestone plants that flower in early to mid-summer such as Oxeye daisies, Greater Knapweed, Meadow Cranesbills and Small Scabious.

How to grow Horseshoe Vetch Seeds

Horseshoe Vetch seeds should be sown in spring or autumn, either outside, where they are to flower, or in seed trays and covered lightly with compost. Germination can be improved by lightly rubbing the seeds between 2 sheets of sandpaper. This is known as scarification and helps break down the seed’s tough outer shell. Horseshoe Vetch seeds are usually easy to germinate and the seedlings, which are quick to develop, can be pricked out and grown on, for planting out later in the year.

RHS Perfect for Pollinators.
The RHS Perfect for Pollinators mark is only given to plants that support pollinating insects in gardens. Bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies and many others visit flowers to feed on nectar and pollen; while doing so they transfer pollen and increase seed set
and fruit development. Find out more at: rhs.org.uk/plants

To discover more plants for Bees, simply enter the word “pollinators” into the search box above.

To Buy Horseshoe Vetch Seeds

Please click here to purchase Horseshoe Vetch seeds. To ensure the best chance of success, we sell all of our wildflower seeds by weight, which ensures each wildflower seed packet contains a good quantity of seeds. The recommended sowing rate is 1 gram per square metre, and the number of Horseshoe Vetch seeds per gram is approx. 150. All of our Wildflower seed packets contain seeds of Native British provenance. Please note that due to the risk of damaging seeds through over processing Horseshoe Vetch seeds are offered for sale within their distinctive horseshoe shaped husks.