Wildflower Plants A to Z
So, you're keen to get your wildflower garden growing and you know exactly what colour scheme you'd like and what type of wildlife you'd like attract. Buying individual wildflower plants is one of the best ways to do it if you'd prefer a more curated look to your garden.
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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
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
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
Named for its serrated, saw-like leaves, these tall-growing and hardy plants are a relative of the daisy, which you’d hardly believe from their violet, thistle-like flowers. They make a sharp statement in a wild meadow!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 70–120cm.
- Flowers: July-September
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
- Light Requirement: Full Sun or partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Meadows, Forest edges
- Also known as: Dyer's Plumeless Saw-Wort
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
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Named after from its shallow roots, said to have been bitten short in folklore, the Devil’s Bit Scabious is a devilishly good addition to a loamy spot in the garden. Produces rounded, purple-blue ‘pincushion’ flower heads on upright stems. A hardy and alluring plant which attracts bees and butterflies.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 50–80cm.
- Flowers: June-September
- Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
- Light Requirement: Sun or partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Bogs, woodland, heathlands
- Also known as: Blue Bonnets, Bobby Bright Buttons, Fore-Bit
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
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
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
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
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
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
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
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
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
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
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
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
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Produces three-leaved rosettes of broad and silky foliage. A brilliant bloom for beginners, as it’s ideal for small pots and baskets, with its daisy-like white flowers with golden centres providing a simple, earthy beauty- and that’s just the appetiser before it bears its beloved, juicy red fruits in the late summer!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 20-50cm.
- Flowers: April-June
- Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full Sun
- Natural Habitat: Open woodlands, grasslands
- Also known as: Alpine Strawberry
These early-flowering, light maroon spikelets are wonderfully versatile, and are popular picks for fields and as potted plants for a variety of reasons: as its name suggests, Sweet Vernal-Grass has a sweet, almost vanilla-like taste to it when chewed, alongside its distinct aroma of cut hay. A valuable food plant for brown and skipper butterflies larvae.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-60cm.
- Flowers: April-July
- Soil requirement: Well-drained
- Light requirement: Full sun
- Natural habitat: Wildflower meadows, margins
- Also known as: Vernal Grass, Spring Grass
These medium-to-tall-growing plants are unique both for their clusters of button-like blooms the colour of butter and their aromatic, ferny leaves which can even be used as an excellent deterrent for pests! Eccentric and an earnest self-seeder, those cautious of the tansy can grow them in a container, but in beds and borders, it attracts bees and butterflies, and even improves the soil by adding potassium!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-90cm.
- Flowers: July-September
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full Sun
- Natural Habitat: Wetlands, rough grassland, verges
- Also known as: Buttonweed, Hind-Heal, Immortality
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Grows as a spiky spherical flower head coloured by bands of lavender florets. An ideal meadow plant which naturalises well and grows tall, and its seed heads are known to attract the wildlife. All in all, it sure does have a sharp sense of style!
- Type: Bienniel
- Height: 60–200cm.
- Flowers: July-August
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained or moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, river banks, woodlands
- Also known as: Adam’s Flannel, Shepherd’s Staff, Venus’ Basin
Bunches of rounded, pink flowers provide an abundant supply of pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinators. Commonly found on coastal cliffs, beaches and sandunes all around the UK, these leaves are closely packed together to save moisture in the salt-laden sea air.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 5-22cm
- Flowers: May to September
- Soil requirement: Sandy, well-drained
- Light requirement: Full sun
- Natural habitat: Coastal cliffs, grassland, salt marshes, rock gardens
- Also known as: Sea Thrift, Sea Pink, Cliff Clover
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
For any of our customers curious about an aromatic and attractive herb that’s as pretty as it is useful and easy-to-grow… read on, it’s about thyme! These low-growing clusters of pale pink and purple petals are well-known for their common culinary use, but they make for a gorgeous ground covering which require very little fuss for the multicoloured majesty they produce. Recommended for rockeries.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 10-20cm.
- Flowers: June-September
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full Sun
- Natural Habitat: Coasts, rocky habitats, moors
- Also known as: Creeping Thyme, Elfin Thyme, Mother Of Thyme
Choosing different wildflower plants by species gives you complete control over when you plant them, where you plant them and what the end result will be. And buying wildflower plug plants instead of seeds, means that you don't have to wait for them to germinate - perfect if speed is of the essence!
The full range of over 100 British wildflower plants species from Boston Seeds is available to buy online in trays of 25, 150 and 500 plug plants and all are available with nationwide delivery.
Want to learn more about the likes and dislikes of your favourite wildflower plants? Our handy wildflower species quide will tell you all you need to know - yours to download and keep for FREE.
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