Lotus corniculatus
Bird's-foot trefoil
Common names: Common bird's-foot trefoil, Birdsfoot trefoil
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Pot size
- from 10 l
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Flowering
- May–Sep
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −30 °C
- Water need
- Low
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Common bird's-foot trefoil, botanically Lotus corniculatus, is a native, low-growing member of the pea family that occurs throughout Central Europe in meadows, pastures, dry grasslands, and along path edges. Its stems lie flat on the ground or rise 10 to 40 cm. From May to September it produces bright golden-yellow flowers, whose buds are often tinged reddish, followed by slender pods that spread outward like bird's claws. Bumblebees and bees visit it eagerly, and it serves as a larval food plant for the common blue butterfly and for burnet moths. In the garden it suits flower meadows, flowering lawns, gravel beds, and embankments. Thanks to its deep taproot, it tolerates drought. It spreads over time to form a carpet and self-seeds, and it can overgrow small neighboring plants. For meadows, use regional seed.
Care instructions
Sow or plant bird's-foot trefoil in a full-sun position with permeable, lean soil, and space young plants about 25 to 30 cm apart. In the first year, water during dry spells; later it manages on rainfall thanks to its deep root. No fertilizer is needed, as it would only favor grasses. After the main flowering in July, you can cut the stems back by about half, after which it sprouts fresh growth and often blooms again. In flowering lawns it tolerates occasional mowing; in meadows, mow 1 to 2 times per year and remove the cuttings so the soil stays lean. Common mistakes are soil that is too rich or wet and neighboring plants planted too densely, which lead to it being outcompeted within a few years.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingApr–May, Aug–Sep
FloweringMay–Sep
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 8 °C, ideally 20 °C
- Days to sprout
- 7 to 21 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 0.5 cm
- How to start
- Sow straight into the bed
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
well-drained, lean, loamy, lime-loving
Bird's-foot trefoil grows in lean meadows, semi-dry grassland and on verges, and likes free-draining, not too acidic soil, preferably chalky loam or sandy loam. With its deep taproot, it also bridges dry summers. It does not need rich soil; on nutrient-rich ground it is overgrown by grasses and perennials. Permanently wet and strongly acidic soils are not for it.
Feeding
Light feeder
Bird's-foot trefoil needs no fertiliser. As a legume, it uses the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its root nodules to take nitrogen from the air itself, improving the soil in the process. Fertiliser only promotes fast-growing grasses, which crowd it out. In a container too, at most replace the top layer of soil with fresh, free-draining soil in spring.
Overwintering
Bird's-foot trefoil is completely hardy. Above ground, it partly dies back in winter and sprouts again in spring from the taproot. In the bed you do not need to do anything, just avoid wet around the roots. In a container, place the pot against a sheltered house wall and protect the root ball in hard frost with horticultural fleece or hessian.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
Propagate bird's-foot trefoil by sowing. From April to May or from August to September, sow directly where it is to grow, because the taproot dislikes transplanting. Scatter the seeds on loose, scratched-up soil and just press them in; at most, cover them with a very thin layer of sand. Some of the seeds have a hard coat and germinate only after weeks or in the following spring, which is why the sowing looks patchy at first. Keep the area evenly moist in the first few weeks. On open, lean soil, bird's-foot trefoil later sows itself.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
cabbage family (Brassicaceae)
particularly well establishedLeguminous plants collect nitrogen in the soil, from which Brassicaceae benefit as heavy feeders.
For example White cabbageKohlrabiRadishKalebroccolicauliflower and 41 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
carrot family (Apiaceae)
Peas and beans provide carrot and celery with nitrogen and grow as shallow-rooted plants without competition next to each other.
For example CarrotCeleriacDillParsleyFlorence fennelCoriander and 21 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
Rather not
amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae)
particularly well establishedAllium species inhibit the nitrogen‑fixing rhizobia of legumes through their root exudates, which slows their growth.
For example GarlicOnionLeekChivesWild daffodilRocambole and 12 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop‑rotation rule
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
For your garden
Grow Bird's-foot trefoil yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
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