Last day for ordering for Christmas: 19/12

Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) Seed
Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor
Yellow Rattle seedlings
Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) Seed
Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) Seed
Yellow Rattle in late June
Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) Seed
Yellow rattle and Burnet
Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) Seed
Yellow Rattle seedlings

Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) Seed

Origin: English (see description below), 2024 harvest

Sow: When available to end December

Seeding rate: 0.5 - 1g per square metre

Regular price
£38.75
Regular price
Sale price
£38.75
Unit price
per 
Availability
Sold out
VAT included. Free shipping.

Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) Seed

Yellow rattle, Rhinanthus minor, is the only single species seed we sell. It can be an important plant for meadow creation. It's otherwise known as Hay rattle, as it was said to herald the harvest when it set seed. It's an attractive annual, quick to appear through existing sward in early spring. Yellow Rattle is hemi-parasitic, like Eyebright - a distant relation - and Mistletoe. This mean that is photosynthesises, but also needs nutrients from a host plant. Rhinanthus significantly reduces the vigour of some other plants, including - most helpfully - grasses. Not all grasses though - the more vigorous, coarser species will overwhelm it. If you have lots of the thug in chief - perennial rye grass - in an area where you want to have Rattle, I'm afraid it's a lost cause. Some plants, like plantains and Oxeye daisy, have developed their own strategies to resist Yellow Rattle, so do well in swards with large Rhinanthus populations.

Once common but disliked by farmers - unsurprisingly - Yellow rattle is an attractive plant with a yellow snapdragon type of flower which pollinators find helpful too, particularly bumblebees and butterflies. It's said to represent a cockscomb, hence another of its synonyms.

Yellow rattle is an important part of most of our seed mixes, but as an individual species it can be added to existing grass if it is cut very short and raked or chain harrowed to open it up. If you're doing this, aim to have at least 50% of the earth showing, and tread in or lightly roll the seeded area to ensure good soil contact. Rattle must be sown in late summer up to the year end; the seed needs to get cold to germinate. Avoid cutting the seedlings as they appear, and the developing plants will significantly reduce the vigour of grasses, enabling other wildflowers to compete with them more effectively. When they die back they leave a helpful space for other species to use. We've written more about Rattle in our blog.

Our Seed

Rhinanthus seed has limited viability over time so we always make sure we supply the freshest seed available. It also needs to be processed carefully, which goes some way to explaining the cost of it. We think there at least 6 different subspecies in the UK, which vary a fair bit visually.

Our seed is all UK origin. Over the season we offer several options of English seed, harvested from an upland farm in Northumberland on neutral soil - "Northern England" - or lowland sites in Dorset and Somerset ("Southern England") as well as from working farms in Warwickshire and Exmoor. We also offer Welsh origin seed in small quantities too. 

Generally speaking the sites harvested in England are neutral or calcareous, and the Welsh sites are neutral to slightly acidic.

We have our Yellow Rattle seed independently tested for successful germination, and ask harvesters for at least 90% viability.

Please sow between August and end December.

Yellow rattle seed is available in larger quantities at our Habitat Aid website.

Supplier: Heritage Seeds, Kevin Wharf, Higher Blacklands Farm, Bright Seeds, Will Steel

Customer Reviews

Based on 51 reviews
84%
(43)
12%
(6)
2%
(1)
2%
(1)
0%
(0)
M
Mike Byron
Very efficient

The whole ordering and delivery process was very efficient with an easy to use website. Delivery was on time with my seeds well packaged. I scattered them yesterday - I’ll let you know how they are next summer.

L
Louise Hepworth
Good website and seed

Easy to use website and good delivery. I bought Yellow rattle seeds last year which I split into 2 seeding batches. The earlier seeding had limited success. I noticed at the 2nd seeding that the seed had turned darker so I wasn't surprised when it didn't germinate. This year I used all seed within a few days of arriving as I'd done all the prep of scarifying in advance. Fingers crossed better germination rates this year! Make sure you use it fresh!

M
Mary Worrall

Delivery was swift, happy to have purchased these yellow rattle seeds, but from a financial perspective, wish I had shopped around a bit more as they seem to be about twice the price of yellow rattle from a similar native seed seller. Perhaps that is because this particular company offer regional seed source options, which is great.

J
JULIE Massey
VERY GOOD SERVICE

Was very pleased with the prompt service and the fact that the seeds have been harvested this year to give them the best chance of growing next year.

C
C Dawson
Instructions

I think you could put more information up front on your website, ie before purchase, regarding preparation for sowing the seed. I bought yellow rattle for a large area but was a bit dismayed to read on the packet itself that all vegetation should be removed first. This will take a considerable time and I may not be able to use the amount of seed purchased in time. This will mean that I’ll be sewing at least half of the seed next year, whereas I could have bought less this autumn and then bought fresh seed next year. If this information was given within the seed description pages, it would have saved me money and been more successful.

Do you accept returns in these circumstances?

Thank you for your email. It's picked up an issue for us on the seed packets, which are misleading. Meadow seed should be sown onto bare earth, but Rattle needs to be sown onto grass which has been cut short and scarified - much less work! We have a short video on the product description which should help:
https://britishwildflowermeadowseeds.co.uk/products/yellow-rattle-rhinanthus-minor-seed
I'm sorry for any confusion cased by the instructions on the packet, which we'll amend in future.

British Wildflower Seeds