Alsike clover

How to recognise it

Habit

Short-lived perennial, 20–60 cm, with ascending to upright, hairless stems that do not root at the nodes.

Leaf

Trifoliate; the leaflets are oval to elliptic, 1–3 cm, finely toothed and without a white mark. Large, pointed stipules.

Flower

Rounded heads of 1.5–2.5 cm on long stalks from the leaf axils; the flowers are white at first, then turn pink and hang down brown after flowering. Flowers from June to September.

Fruit/Seed

Small pods with two to four seeds, hidden among the withered brown flowers.

Roots

A taproot with side roots and nitrogen-fixing nodules; no creeping stems.

Confusion with

White clover has creeping, rooting stems, often a white mark on the leaflets and usually white heads. Red clover has pink to purple-red heads sitting just above two leaves. You know alsike clover by the white-and-pink heads on long stalks and the ascending stems that do not root.

Flowering: June–September · Pruning: July and September

Why grow it?

• Flowers from June to September and is a good nectar plant: honeybees, bumblebees and other bees visit the heads busily.
• Fixes nitrogen from the air through nodules on its roots.
• The two-coloured heads, white and pink, look lovely in a damp wildflower meadow.
• Tolerates wetter and more acid soil than red clover, and still gives a show of clover flowers there.
• An old fodder plant: it used to be sown in hay meadows and pastures, especially on wet soil.

Alsike clover: where does it grow best?

• In the wild in damp grassland, hay meadows, verges, along ditches, on field edges and waste ground.
• Sun to light shade.
• Moist to wet, moderately rich clay or loam; it also tolerates somewhat acid soil.
• In the garden: in a damp wildflower meadow, a wet verge or at the edge of a pond.

Goes well with

• Ragged-robin: Pink, ragged stars in the same damp hay meadow.
• Greater bird’s-foot trefoil: Yellow flowers for bumblebees in the same wet meadow.
• Cuckooflower: Flowers earlier, in April–May, in the same damp grassland.
• Greater yellow-rattle: A semi-parasite that holds back the grass, giving clovers and wild flowers more room.

Alsike clover: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy seed of native origin from a supplier of native plants; ask for wild origin rather than seed of fodder varieties if you can.
2. Sow in March–April or August–September where it is to grow, on open soil, or in existing grassland on patches raked open.
3. Sow thinly, rake in lightly and firm.
4. Keep the soil moist until germination.
5. Set pot-grown plants 30 cm apart.
6. Never dig up plants in the wild.

Care

Water

Not needed in a damp meadow; on dry soil it fades away.

Feeding

Not needed; it makes its own nitrogen.

Mowing

Mow a damp wildflower meadow in mid-July, after the first flowering, and again in September; remove the cuttings.

Short-lived

The plants live only a few years. Let them set seed so that new ones come up.

Grazing animals

Do not sow it in a horse pasture and keep it limited there; read the warning below.

Tip: Sow alsike clover on the wettest part of your wildflower meadow, where red clover struggles: it tolerates wetter soil and still gives the bees a show of clover flowers there.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: July and September.

When: No real pruning. Mow a damp wildflower meadow in mid-July and again in September.

How:

• Mow after the first flowering, when some of the heads are brown: it will then flower again in late summer.
• Leave the cuttings for a few days, then remove them.
• Leave a strip standing into autumn for insects.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Ripens from July to September. Pick dry heads, rub them out and sow in spring or late summer.

Alsike clover: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −30 °C.

• Most of the leaves die back; the plant overwinters with buds at its base.
• Fully hardy and able to cope with wet winters.
• It starts growing again quickly in spring.

Diseases and pests

• Short-lived: Old plants disappear after two or three years. Let them set seed or sow more.
• Powdery mildew: White powder on the leaves in dry late summers. Harmless.
• Competition: It disappears in tall, rich grass. Mow twice a year and remove the cuttings.
• Horse pasture: A lot of alsike clover in a horse pasture or in hay can cause problems. Keep it limited there.

Through the year

• March: Sow on patches raked open in a damp meadow.
• April: The plant starts growing again.
• June: First white-and-pink heads; bees and bumblebees arrive.
• July: Full flower. Mow in mid-July after the first flowering.
• August: Second flowering on the regrowth. Sowing possible.
• September: Last flowers; second cut and remove the cuttings.
• November: Resting; the plant overwinters at its base.

Did you know?

• The name alsike comes from Alsike, a parish in Sweden where Linnaeus came across the plant.
• Linnaeus thought it was a hybrid between white and red clover, hence the name hybridum; in fact it is a species in its own right.
• It used to be an important fodder crop on wet, acid soils, where red clover grows poorly.