White Clover - Trifolium repens  - €3 per plant  
Seed Packs - 100g - 66m2 of cover -  €4.5 - 200g - 133m2 of cover -  €9 - 300g - 200m2 of cover - €13  

This variety of clover is a cool-season perennial legume that is well placed as ground cover, a cover crop, for erosion control, and in pasture mixtures. It succeeds in a moist, well-drained  soil in full sun, preferring a sweet calcareous clay soil.  It is an excellent wildlife plant, providing bees with a valuable source of nectar and also a very important food plant for the caterpillars of many butterfly and moth species. It is a good companion plant due to its nitrogen fixing properties and reportedly  grows well in apple orchards - the trees will produce tastier fruit that stores better! To order this plant please contact us [email protected].  

Context

  • native region: Europe-Asia
  • native habitat: Grassland and lawns,
  • family: Fabaceae or Leguminosae

Predators

  • no experience of any pests or predators 

Needs, tolerances 

  • Light: Full Sun
  • soil pH: acid-neutral -basic alkaline and can grow in very alkaline soils
  • USDA Hardiness Zone: 4 - 8
  • It can grow in heavy clay and nutritionally poor soils.
  • Prefers moist soil

Known hazards 

  • Although well known to be an excellent forage plant for livestock, some contradictory reports exist claiming this plant occasionally causes some problems in livestock.

Overview


  • See here for seed packs  
  • 10 x 12 plant bags  
  • Evergreen Perennial legume growing to 0.1 x 1m at a medium rate
  • It is in flower in June to September, and the seeds ripen from July to October.
  • The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.
  • It can fix Nitrogen.
  • Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in heavy clay
  • Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very alkaline soils.
  • It cannot grow in the shade.
  • It prefers moist soil

Characteristics

  • form:  Perennial legume
  • layer: ground layer
  • habit: spreads with rhizomes
  • height x width (m): 0.1 x 1

Products 

  • Leaves: Produces a good bulk and makes an excellent green manure. The young leaves are harvested before the plant comes into flower and are used in salads or soups
  • Flowers: White - pinkish blooms. Very attractive to bees. The young flowers can also be used in salads.
  • Medicinal: The plant has many medicinal properties.  An infusion has been used in the treatment of coughs, colds and fevers.
  • White clover is a nitrogen fixing plant which is used in crop rotation.

Functions, behaviours

  •  A good companion plant in the lawn, tolerates trampling well
  • A good fast ground-cover plant for a sunny position
  • Spreads quickly by creeping stems.
  • Nitrogen fixing

Polyculture Partners - plants that should grow well with Trifolium repens 

Picture

    If you would like more information about this polyculture click to here to move over to our blog article. 
    Trifolium repens also features in The Biomass Belt
    If you would like this plant please send an email to [email protected] with your order. 
    Balkan Ecology Project