Wildflower Plants A to Z

Growing tall, slender stems with flowers climbing up the stalk, the Moth Mullein’s subtle beauty comes in a variety of colours: petals are often white, tinted with pale pink or lemon yellow. Much like its namesake, it enjoys a place in bright light where its bright blooms can really glow- and it’s not picky about soil conditions, making it ideal for borders or rockeries.

• Type: Biennial 
• Height: 60-100cm.
• Flowers: June-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Woodland margins, clearings, waste grounds
• Also known as: Shepherd’s Club, Slippery Mullein, Woolly Mullein

Unique lilac flowers that emit a very strong fragrance of spearmint when crushed that's commonly used in aromatherapy. This species has been known to be used in herbal medicine as an insect repellent and antiseptic. 

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 10-25cm
• Flowers: August onwards
• Soil requirement: Damp
• Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural habitat: Grassland, meadows, roadsides
• Also known as: Pennyrile, Squaw Mint, Mosquito Plant, Pudding Grass

This grass-like plant produces dense spikes of greenish florets, which later display long, lilac stamens that provide this otherwise-prickly plantain with a soft and ribbony appearance. A real gift to your garden that’s perfect for pollinators, and also provides a sweet scent like vanilla. Well-suited to meadows.

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 30-45cm.
• Flowers: May-August 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, pastures, roadsides
• Also known as: Fire Leaves, Healing Herb, Kemps

True nature-lovers can give little bit back to nature with this rugged and robust meadow plant. The cream-coloured anthers that give colour to the Ribwort Plantain's spikes of sharp umber petals also serve as a vital food source for pollinators and other animals. A good addition to meadows that's easy to naturalise.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 60-90cm. 
• Flowers: April-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-Drained
• Light Requirement: Full or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, roadsides
• Also known as: Black Jack, Hen Plant, Ribgrass

So-named for its feathery, forked flowers in flamingo pink, we recommend these raggedy riches for a lot of reasons. Planted in a marshy spot, these bright bursts of streaming pink petals will help to bring in bees and butterflies! 

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 30-60cm.
• Flowers: May-July 
• Soil Requirement: Moist
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodland, wetlands
• Also known as: Cuckoo Hood, Meadow Pink, Wild William

A shrub-like perennial that's usually found in infertile meadows and grasslands that compliments other species such as Vetch, Betony and Knapweed. Bold, red-pink, delicate flowers on erect, spiny stems. 

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 40-50cm
• Flowers: July-September
• Soil requirement: Natural-acidic
• Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural habitat: Grassland, meadows, roadsides
• Also known as: Women's War, Plough Tail 

The lilac-pink bracts of the Clary Sage certainly are a sight for sore eyes! Not only that, but its heart-shaped foliage is famously aromatic to the point where it’s frequently used in aromatherapy, along other medicinal uses the herb’s seen throughout the years.

• Type: Biennial  
• Height: 60-100cm.
• Flowers: March-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grassland, coastal areas
• Also known as: Clear-Eye, See-Bright

Though the Wood Sage’s crinkly foliage has a more subtle scent than some of its cousins, this sublime specimen has n unusual beauty, bearing dark burgundy stems and stamens contrasted by cream-coloured petals with a large lower lip, making it look like a spoonful of sugar- and it’s sure to add that little extra bit of sweetness to stone gardens and hedgerows.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 30–50cm. 
• Flowers: July-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodland, heathland, coasts
• Also known as: Garlic Sage, Hind Heal

These upright spikes of nectar-rich, stripey fuchsia flowers are your best bet for a bloom that’s beneficial to the wildlife of your wild meadow- it’s best grown with grasses to balance out both plants and best show off its vivid colouration!

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 40–50cm. 
• Flowers: July-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
• Light Requirement: Full Sun
• Natural Habitat: Meadows, Foot Paths
• Also known as: Esparsette, French Grass, Holy Clover

For those looking for something truly unique, the Burnet Saxifrage is one in a million: bearing thin branches of miniature, crystal-white floral umbels like snowflakes, as well as highly variable foliage, ranging from thin and sharp to short and toothed.  It’s easy to naturalise, and its simple colouration makes it a suitable addition to any arrangement.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 50–100cm.
• Flowers: May-September
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Grassland, heathland
• Also known as: Lesser Burnet

This dainty-looking globe flower produces an intricate pattern of bluish-lilac petals: the innermost flower, a soft-looking cluster of miniature florets, is framed by long and papery outer florets! A magical addition to a meadow, especially when mixed with other light-coloured wildflowers.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 30–90cm.
• Flowers: July-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, verges
• Also known as: Black Soap, Egyptian Rose, Lady’s Cushion

Though smaller than certain other scabious, these compact, cluster-growing flowers are best suited for complimenting beds and borders rather than taking centre stage, whilst still bearing the hardiness and pretty, periwinkle blue florets of its brethren. In fact, the Small Scabious bears five-petalled florets rather than the regular four- sometimes, it’s the little things that matter.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 60–70cm. 
• Flowers: July-August
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, verges
• Also known as: Curl-Doddy, Lilac-Flowered Scabious

The Cyperus Sedge produces drooping, yellow-green tufted flowers, which are well-suited for pond margins for those who want a super lush and lively look. Hardy and tall-growing, the blade-like leaves of this sedge provide important cover for waterside wildlife.

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 60-90cm.
• Flowers: May-June 
• Soil Requirement: Moist
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Marshes, river banks, ditches
• Also known as: Sedge Hop

Perhaps named for its spiky, orange-and-bronze tinted flower heads, there’s no mistaking the sedge’s characteristic fresh green tint and long, slender leaves. Best planted in heavy soil or slightly submerged in water to create a vibrant display at the water’s edge and benefit the wildlife. 

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 60-90cm.
• Flowers: June-July 
• Soil Requirement: Moist
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Marshes, river banks, ditches

The Pendulous Sedge is a popular pond-side plant, and for a good reason- its nodding, tufted heads of grassy-green and golden-brown flowers really complete the mood of a marshy meadow, and are attractive to wildlife as well! One of the tallest species of sedge, this boisterous and hardy plant will self-seed readily.   

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 100-140cm.
• Flowers: May-June
• Soil Requirement: Moist
• Light Requirement: Partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Marshes, river banks, wet woodlands
• Also known as: Great Pendulous Sedge

This whisical wildflower's short spikes of violet and burgundy beauty are just as pretty as its name! Though it's named for its medicinal uses, we think that there's nothing more rejuvinating than the sight of this multicoloured majesty flooding beds or wild meadows, as it naturalises to any environment and self-seeds readily.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 20–30cm. 
• Flowers: June-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained or moist
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, woodlands
• Also known as: Blue Lucy, Heart of the Earth, Thimble-Flower

These branches of pearly-white petals, framing fuzzy cream florets, are nothing to sneeze at! Named for its strong scent, its leaves can also be used to repel harmful insects (though it’s still perfect for pollinators), and it’s sometimes used as a herbal remedy. Hardy and drought-resistant.

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 25-50cm.
• Flowers: July-September
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Marshes, water margins
• Also known as: Ball Of Snow, Goosetongue, Seven Years’ Love

The subtly sweet-scented Soapwort was named as it can be used to make soap, but its clusters of pristine white and pale pink petals bring to mind a bubble bath, washing up beds and borders as it self-seeds easily. A very useful and hardy herb to have around! Avoid placing near fish ponds.

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 50-70cm.
• Flowers: June-September
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Footpaths, river banks, hedges
• Also known as: Boston Pink, Jill-Run-By-The-Street, World’s Wonder

These spikes of small, scarlet-and-fuschia flowers really spice up a wildmeadow: not only that, they bring in bees and self-seed with little fuss, making them the perfect plant to pepper in! Their attractive arrow-shapes leaves also taste tart when eaten.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 15–60cm. 
• Flowers: May-August
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun 
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, woodlands, verges
• Also known as: Sour Ducks, Vinegar Plant

A shorter, self-seeding sorrel which bears the same upright, slender stems of scarlet and hot pink petals as its counterparts. Its small but vivid flowers add a lot of flavour to a garden, and perhaps even more flavourful are its sword-shaped basal leaves, which can even be used in making food!

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 7–25cm. 
• Flowers: May-August
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained, acidic
• Light Requirement: Full sun 
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, woodlands, verges
• Also known as: Sour Weed

Produces dense spikes of miniature florets in regal blues and violets, alongside long, sharp leaves with a subtle silver tint. The sky’s the limit with these showy summer wildflowers: recommended for rockeries and brilliant in borders, this is a versatile and low-maintenance flower that’s practically made for a cottage garden.

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 30-60cm.
• Flowers: July-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Calcareous rocks and soils, grasslands

Looking at its golden, star-shaped flowers and showoffish nectar-rich stamens which are perfect for pollinators, it's no wonder that St John's Wort is famously revered in a variety of religions and myths- even today it's highly valued in herbalism! A great plant to grow for a gorgeous golden glow.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 30–60cm. 
• Flowers: June-September
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: River banks, meadows, hedgerows
• Also known as: Cammock, Devil’s Scourge, Rosin Rose

Distinguished by its namesake hairy leaves and stem as well as the peppered dark gland across their sepals, this specific specie of St. John’s Wort grows taller and with larger, pale-yellow flowers in clustered spikes. A fickle flower that prefers sunny, calciferous soils unlike the common St. John’s Wort, but a garden or grove decorated with these glorious golden-petalled pillars is a rich enough reward.

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 60-100cm.
• Flowers: July-August
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Open forests, damp grasslands 

These dainty white springtime flowers are known by a variety of names: one of the most prevalent is ‘Snapdragon’, referring both to its brittle stems and how you may hear its seed pods make a popping sound as they ripen in late Spring. These silvery starbursts are also perfect for pollinators!

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 25-60cm.
• Flowers: April-June
• Soil Requirement: Moist
• Light Requirement: Partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Hedges, banks, wood margins  
• Also known as: All-Bone, Easter Bells, Moonflower, Snapdragon