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Wild Flowers

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Height up to 152cm

Beautiful plant, which can have up to 80 flowers on a single stem are loved by bees. Flowers June-August. Likes acid soil.

Did you know? The foxglove is very poisonous but the drug digitalis obtained from it is used to treat heart complaints.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Height up to 30cm

The dandelion is hated by gardeners but if left to go to seed it will attract birds such as goldfinches to the garden.

Did you know? Young dandelion leaves are tasty in salads and are rich in vitamins A and C.

Dandelion Clock

Thistles

There are several varieties of thistle. All will attract insects especially butterflies such as the Painted Lady and bees to their flowers.If allowed to go to seed, the seedheads attract birds such as goldfinches

Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)

Height up to 195cm

The teasel makes a very attractive garden plant with its large pink flower heads that attracts bees, butterflies and hoverflies. Its seed heads attract birds such as goldfinches. Niger or thistle seeds can be sprinkled on the empty seedheads to provide winter food for these birds.

Did you know? The cultivated variety of the teasle was used to raise the nap on cloth in the textile industry.

Primrose (Primula vulgaris)

Height up to 15cm

The primrose blooms very early in the season when not much else is about and often goes unpollinated as not many insects are about when it blooms. Over picking has resulted in it becoming almost extinct in some areas

Did you know? The Romans collected primroses to fight off malarial fevers and it was once thought that an ointment made from the plant got rid of freckles.

Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense)

Height up to 76cm

The cranes-bill makes an ideal garden plant as it blooms for such a long time, from June until September. Bees are attracted to the flowers. When planted in a meadow it will bloom again after it is mown. It was probably introduced to this country by the Romans.

Did you know? Blue dye was once extracted from the Meadow Cranesbills roots.

Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi)

Height up to 76cm

The ragged-robin is related to the Red Campion and grows in soil near ponds and streams or anywhere where the soil does not dry out. Many large moths are attracted to its flowers.

Did you know? It was once thought that the Ragged Robin belonged to goblins and evil spirits.

Daisy (Bellis perennis)

Height 10-15 cm

It is sad that many people use weed killer to rid their lawns of daisies when there is nothing as beautiful than a lawn covered in daisies. A childhood without daisy chains is an unthinkable idea.

Did you know? The name Daisy comes from day’s eye - the first flower to appear each day. Spring was supposed to have started when you could place your foot on 9 Daisies in one step.

Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)

Height up to 45cm

The Ox-eye Daisy transforms roadsides and roundabouts with its profusion of flowers and makes an ideal plant for a wildflower meadow.Attracts early summer butterflies to its nectar.

Did you know? Ox-Eye Daisies have long been associated with love. The petals were picked off one by one, saying alternately- ‘He loves me, he loves me not’ until the last petal revealed the truth.

Meadowsweet(Filipendula ulmaria)

Height up to 120cm

Meadowsweet thrives in damp soil and is often seen close to streams and in damp meadows. It is sweetly scented as the name describes.

Did you know? Meadowsweet was once used to ease pain as its sap contains chemicals similar to salicylic acid which is an ingredient of aspirin.

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)

Height up to 152 cm

An important plant for insects. Many of our butterflies depend on the nettle for food for their larvae. It can also be beneficial to gardeners as cut nettles put in a water butt add nutrients to feed plants.

Did you know? Nettles were harvested during the second World War to obtain chlorophyll for medicines.

Lady’s bedstraw(Galium verum)

Height up to 100 cm

A delicate plant which grows on grassland and in hedgerows.  The flowers smell like honey after dusk. Attracts moths and is the main food plant of the Elephant Hawk Moth. It is so called because it was once used to stuff bedding, it was an ideal material as fleas did not like it and it was plentiful.

Did you know? Bedstraw contains a drug that is used to prevent blood clotting.

Bluebell(Hyacinthoides non-scriptus)

Height up to 50 cm

A bluebell wood is a beautiful sight in springtime. Our native bluebells are under threat from the paler Spanish variety which has spread to our shores. It is illegal to dig up Bluebells in the countryside but they are also threatened by the trampling of their leaves, which can destroy them as they receive no food.

Did you know? Bluebell bulbs contain starch and in Elizabethan times were used to stiffen the ruffs worn by the gentry.

Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)

Height up to 50 cm

Once common early in the 20th century, the Fritillary is now quite rare because of the draining and ploughing of wet meadows and the use of fertilisers.

Field Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

Height up to 60 cm

It was once common to see a field full of Poppies and corn, but the use of selected weed killers has made this a much rarer sight. They are loved by bees and hoverflies.

Did you know? All the Poppy family have narcotic properties to different degrees, not just the Opium Poppy and have been used to treat various ailments.

Common Fumitory (Fumaria officinalis)

Height up to 50 cm

The delicate Fumitory often grows in bare, disturbed soil, an unmistakable plant with its unusual flowers  and deeply divided leaves.

Did you know? When pulled up the Fumitory roots give off an acrid, gaseous smell similar to nitric acid.

White Clover (Trifolium repens)

Clover (trifolium)

Height up to 60 cm

The Clover is loved by bees and is a valuable source of honey for beekeepers. Red clover can be grown as a crop and harvested for fodder or simply ploughed back into the soil to enrich it. Its roots contain bacteria that is able to convert the nitrogen in the air into salts which are essential for plant growth.

Did you know? It is considered lucky to find a four-leafed clover because it represented the sign of the cross and was worn to ward off witches and warlocks.

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris)

Height up to 90 cm

Related to the Hollyhock, the Mallow is quite a showy plant in its own right. It grows on waste ground, roadsides and often in neglected gardens. Its young shoots were once eaten as a vegetable.

Did you know? The Mallow was once considered an anti-aphrodisiac, promoting sober conduct and were used to soothe aches and pains.

Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

Height up to 40 cm

The delicate Harebell grows on poor, dry soil and flowers for a long period. Its nodding bells are often called Fairy Bells or witches thimbles and in Scotland the Bluebell, which causes some confusion as it is not related to the English Bluebell which is of the Hyacinth family.

Did you know? The Harebell was often associated with the Devil and in Ireland its flowers were thought to be goblins thimbles.