Wildflower Plants A to Z

Scarlet, saucer-shaped, 4-petalled flowers used across the country and beyond as a symbol of remembrance for soldiers lost in the Great War. A hardy annual that self-seeds readily, its vibrant colours are a valuable addition for wild meadows, beds, borders and cottage gardens.

• Type: Annual  
• Height: 30-60cm. 
• Flowers: May-July 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, farmland, roadsides
• Also known as: Blind-Eyes, Flanders Poppy, Headache Plant

Imagine a midsummer meadow rife with the Meadow Clary’s tall-growing spikes of striking indigo flowers! Though they’re now a rare sight in the wild, this handsome and hardy clump-growing plant is a sight to behold, on its own or at the back of a border. Noted for its soft foliage, which is aromatic when crushed.

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 80–100cm.
• Flowers: May-August 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Dry grassland, hay meadows, grassy paths 
• Also known as: Meadow Sage

Roses are red, and you already knew of the Violet’s namesake shade of purplish-blue. This five-petalled flower’s beauty is well known, and in sun or in shade, it’s quite easily grown. It looks magical decorating the edge of a woodland garden, or beneath a small hedge- but this plant’s so simple, it’s easy to style it; for those who want blue, it just must be the Violet!

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 5-10cm.
• Flowers: April-June 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun to full shade
• Natural Habitat: Grassland, woodland, hedgerows
• Also known as: Wood Violet

White Deadnettle has pretty white flowers permeated with green, which appear in intervals along the stem in clusters. This nettle doesn't sting- in fact, it's a very sweet flower, which makes for a great early nectar and pollen source for bees, and its young heart shaped leaves can be used in salads or cooked.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 15-30cm
• Flowers: March - December
• Soil requirement: Moist or well-drained
• Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
• Natural habitat: Most of the UK apart from the far North, grassland, woodland, roadsides
• Also known as: Bee Nettle, Snake Flower, White Archangel

Designed specifically to produce yellow rattle plants easily and quickly. Grown from our own quality-assured, fresh, UK native seed, our yellow rattle plugs are ready to be planted in your garden or meadow.

Yellow rattle is a surprisingly musical meadow flower and a must for a wildflower garden: as a semi-parasitic plant, it requires robust neighbour plants like grasses and legumes, but also acts as a watchdog against vigorous weeds.. That's on top of the beauty of its golden, bell-shaped flowers, complete with a charming 'chime' as its ripened seed pods rattle in the breeze.

Our yellow rattle plug plants are grown from high-quality, British seed from wild meadow collections, and arrive ready to be planted complete with the essential meadow grasses. Check back in late 2024 to order your yellow rattle plants for delivery in spring 2025, or view our yellow rattle seeds.

• Type: Annual
• Height: 20–50cm. 
• Flowers: May-September
• Soil Requirement: Moist or well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grassland, meadows
• Also known as: Corn Rattle, Hay Rattle, Penny Grass

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

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

 Once named a 'blessed herb' for its uses in herbalism, this hardy, leafy plant can still bless your garden with small, star-shaped, buttery yellow blooms which add some extra brightness to a shady spot- as well as sweetness, as they're nectar-rich and ideal for pollinators.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 30-60cm.
• Flowers: May-August
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Partial Shade
• Natural Habitat: Woods, hedgerows, roadsides
• Also known as: Herb Bennett, Colewort, St. Benedict's Herb, Blessed Herb

What else is there to say about the dainty azure arcs of the beloved Bluebell? Though they take several years to develop from seed, fully grown bluebells naturalise quickly and can multiply over time, leaving your garden awash and aglow with the famous fairy-tale flora! In addition, Bluebells can rarely grow in pink and white.

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 30–60cm.
• Flowers: April-June 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodlands, hedge banks 
• Also known as: Bell Bottle, Cuckoo’s Boots, Witch’s Thimbles

A coastal campion. Grows a bladder-like calyx coloured in coral, ending in bubbly white flowers which look brilliant washing over a rockery like sea foam.  

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 15–30cm.
• Flowers: June-August 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained, sandy
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Coastal areas, cliffs
• Also known as: Sea Pink, Seaside Catchfly

Clover plants are an essential and easy-to-grow part of a spring meadow, yet the unique beauty of their spiky, carmine red flower heads and namesake trefoil leaves are often overlooked. Scatter them in a lawn or a flower bed for a vibrant accent to other plants. 

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 10-20cm.
• Flowers: May-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, roadsides
• Also known as: Beebread, Cow Clover

Though it shares the same narrow, pearly white petals radiating from central sunny yellow florets, the Ox-Eye Daisy is much larger than the typical lawn daisy, with flower heads growing up to 5cm wide. A robust flower with classic charm, and perfect for pollinators to boot.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 30-60cm.
• Flowers: May-August
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Meadows, road verges
• Also known as: Marguerite, Pretty Maids, Dog Daisy

With its clusters of uniquely vivid lilac petals with bursts of white, the Dames-Violet seems very different to her fellow violets, but bears the same sweet fragrance, which grows stronger in the evenings! A favourite of pollinators, and the dried petals can also be used for potpurri.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 60-90cm
• Flowers: May-August
• Soil requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural habitat: Hedgerows, wood edges, wasteground
• Also known as: Damask, Queen's Gilliflower, Sweet Rocket,

Few flowers match the fairy-tale flair of the foxglove: its towering stems of majestic magenta bells feature heavily across myths as a source of healing and protective magic, and a favourite of fairies- we can’t confirm if that’s true, but they are a favourite of bees and butterflies! Best grown in the back of a border to frame other flowers. Make sure to handle with gloves. 

• Type: Biennial 
• Height: 60–150cm.
• Flowers: June-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Forest borders, footpaths
• Also known as: Dragon’s Mouth, Fairy Bells, Thimble Flower

What’s better than the Anise Hyssop’s clumps-forming, soft spikes of mauve flowers? Perhaps only its aromatic leaves! A nectar-rich scented sensation of a herb best placed at the back of a border, where it brings in bees and butterflies. 

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 60-100cm.
• Flowers: June-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Dry forests, praries
• Also known as: Fragrant Giant Hyssop, Lavender Giant Hyssop

Greater Knapweed is hardy and tall-growing, and helps to bring in butterflies. We recommend complimenting its sharp and showy, thistle-like flowers with a similarly starburst-shaped scabious, or use softer shapes to and colours contrast with specimens such as the ox-eye daisy or mallow.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 40-90cm. 
• Flowers: June-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, cliff-sides
• Also known as: Black Top

A robust marsh flower which produces tall plumes of magenta blooms. Perfect for the pondside- let them loose and enjoy these sensational spikes of colour as they bring in bees!

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 60-120cm. 
• Flowers: June-September
• Soil Requirement: Moist
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Marshes, riverbanks, fens
• Also known as: Black Blood, Rainbow Weed, Red Sally

Best known as a common culinary herb, the Wild Marjoram has an extra use in providing some fanciful flavour to your garden! Not only does it provide fragrant foliage, but its small, spiked stems also produce clusters of small, rich Byzantine purple buds, blooming into paler pink petals, providing an interesting mixed palette that can compliment both light and dark flower arrangements!

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 30-60cm.
• Flowers: July-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, farmland, chalky soil
• Also known as: Oregano, Grove Marjoram, Wintersweet 

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

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

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

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

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