Sainfoin seed
LATIN NAME: Onobrychis viciifolia
COMMON NAME: Sainfoin
Sainfoin is the hay that the bees follow and the horses do well on. The upright, clumping, perennial plant carries the pinnate leaves with the many small leaflets and the tall spikes of the bright pink to purple, pea-like flowers through the summer, one of the fine sights of the hay meadow and the sunny bank. The plant is one of the great, generous forage plants of the old countryside, and the deep roots and the sweet hay have a long record in the farms of Europe. It is a plant of the open, sunny, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The sainfoin is a steady, generous subject of the plant science, studied for the spikes of the pink, pea-like flowers and the deep roots. The way the plant feeds the bees and the stock without the bloat of the other legumes has been studied steadily, and it keeps showing up in the work on the forage legumes, the pasture plants and the members of the pea family. The pinnate leaves and the upright, clumping habit have also made it a fine garden plant, and the sainfoin is a regular subject of the studies of the great forage plants of the temperate world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The sainfoin is a steady, generous plant of the field and the sunny bank. The tall spikes of the bright pink to purple, pea-like flowers open through the summer, drawing the bees from the whole neighbourhood, and the deep roots hold the dry, stony banks and improve the pasture ground. The sweet hay has a long record in the farms of Europe, and the plant is one of the fine, easy choices for the wildflower meadow and the forage field. It has been written up in the agricultural and the ecological papers for the bee-friendly flowers and the steady forage ways, and it is a fine, long-lived plant of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.
The sainfoin is one of the great forage plants of the old countryside, and the tall spikes of the bright pink, pea-like flowers draw the bees from the whole neighbourhood. The sweet hay has a long record in the farms of Europe.
To grow the sainfoin from seed, sow the kidney-shaped seeds a little over half a centimetre deep in pots of moist, free-draining soil, keep the pots in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the sun. The seedlings come through within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the well-drained ground, the pink spikes will rise through the summer.
Description:
NAME: Sainfoin
OTHER COMMON NAMES: Common Sainfoin / Holy Clover
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Onobrychis Viciifolia / Onobrychis Sativa / Onobrychis Viciaefolia
COLOR: Pink
PLANT SEEDS: Outdoors after frost in Spring / Fall
BLOOM TIME: Late Spring – Early Fall (Repeat Bloomer)
HARDINESS ZONE: 3 – 10
PLANT HEIGHT: 24 – 32″
PLANT SPACING: 3 – 6″
LIGHT REQUIREMENTS: Sun – Part Shade
SOIL & WATER PREFERENCES: Average
Sainfoin is a beautiful flowering forage legume. Its showy flower spikes can carry as many as 50 blooms per head, & provide nectar for bees & butterflies. The plants flower twice a year – once in the spring & again in the fall.
Sainfoin has many beneficial uses. Being a legume, it is able to fix the nitrogen in the soil to make it more fertile so is grown as a cover crop & green manure crop. Sainfoin is most commonly grown for livestock either for grazing, hay, or silage. It is high in tannins & protein& said to be a food preferred by cattle & sheep. The plants are also more tolerant of both drought & frost than alfalfa or clover. If you need to grow a crop for forage, why not grow one of the most beautiful?