Saving Oxfordshire’s endangered wetland plants
Local people are helping us to save Oxfordshire's historic wetland and freshwater habitats by growing rare wetland plants at home and in community centres.
The GroWet plants are happy in small spaces, even on windowsills. And, when they’re strong enough, they’ll be going back into the wild to help us restore and regenerate Oxfordshire’s incredible wetlands and freshwater habitats.
How GroWet works
1 Getting plants to our volunteers
Our volunteers have collected their plant packs from one of our GroWet Community Hubs based around Oxfordshire. The packs contain GroWet seedlings, adult plants or seeds and all the materials and information needed to care for the plant at home.
2 Nurturing plants in the community
Our volunteers look after the plants at home and in community centres over the summer. We keep in touch with them, offering tips and advice along the way. Volunteers post their progress on social media, using the hashtag #GroWet
3 Back to the wild
In the autumn, we collect the plants and introduce them to wild locations across Oxfordshire. The plants would once have been plentiful at these freshwater and wetland sites but are now in decline. By reintroducing them, we hope they can once again establish and restore Oxfordshire’s historic wetlands.
GroWet was originally created in 2022 as part of our project Building Oxfordshire’s Freshwater Network. Find out more in this article from CJS.
About the GroWet plants
Here are the wetland plants we’re working on during the project. Follow the links to learn about each species’ ecology and propagation.
Black Bog-rush
Schoenus nigricans
Bladder-sedge
Carex vesicaria
Blunt-leaved Pondweed
Potamogeton obtusifolius
Bottle Sedge
Carex rostrata
Common Cotton-grass
Eriophorum angustifolium
Creeping Marshwort
Helosciadium repens
Fen Violet
Viola stagnina
Few-flowered Spike-rush
Eleocharis quinqueflora
Flea-sedge
Carex pulicaris
Frogbit
Hydrocharis morsus-ranae
Grass-of-Parnassus
Parnassia palustris
Greater Water-parsnip
Sium latifolium
Long-stalked Yellow-sedge
Carex lepidocarpa
Meadow Thistle
Cirsium dissectum
Parsley Water-dropwort
Oenanthe lachenalii
Purple Moor-grass
Molinia caerulea
Ragged-robin
Silene flos-cuculi
Round-fruited Rush
Juncus compressus
Saw-wort
Serratula tinctoria
Tawny Sedge
Carex hostiana
True Fox-sedge
Carex vulpina
Tubular Water-dropwort
Oenanthe fistulosa
Water Germander
Teucrium scordium
Water-violet
Hottonia palustris