Wildflower Plants A to Z

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

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

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

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

A hardy scrambling wildflower whose bright buttery-yellow, pea-like blooms are well-contrasted by its black ripe seed pods. A magnificent meadow addition which benefits bees and butterflies, and adds a certain shine to shady spots.

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 50-100cm.
• Flowers: May-August 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Grassland, roadside verges, waste ground
• Also known as: Angle Berries, Lady’s Fingers, Meadow Pea

Here’s the perfect plant for those who want a bright burst of colour lasting late into autumn! The Common Toadflax bears snapdragon-like flowers with pale, buttery outer petals and golden-orange centres; complimenting the palette of summer spirit as well as falling leaves.

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 30-60cm.
• Flowers: July-October
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Hedgerows, meadows, waste ground
• Also known as: Bread And Butter, False Flax, Jacob’s Ladder

The violet and royal blue petals that these soaring spires of petals bear are just the beginning of this flighty flora's beautiful oddities: blooming with longer, feathery-looking flowers, and even the familiar seed pods it shares with others in the legume family ripen into a deep black colour. A quirky and attractive climbing plant which does its best when planted with other tall flora to support it. 

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 60–120cm. 
• Flowers: June-August
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Hedgerows, river banks, woodlands
• Also known as: Bird Vetch, Canada Pea, Tine Grass

Wallflowers are associated with shyness today, but these brightly-coloured creepers in golden-yellow, amber and brick red make a bold statement in full bloom. These sweetly-scented plants are amazing as ornaments, adding a mysterious sylvan style to a cottage garden as they clamber across rockeries and walls.

• Type: Biennial  
• Height: 22-45cm.
• Flowers: March-April 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Waste ground, cliffsides, quarries.
• Also known as: Bleeding Heart, Bloody Warrior, Yellow Gilliflower

Produces whorls of beetroot-coloured blooms with white markings on a hairy, crimson-tinted stem. As its name may suggest, it used to have uses in herbalism, and in the garden it’s quite popular with pollinators. 

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 30-90cm.
• Flowers: June-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodlands, scrublands, verges.
• Also known as: Hedge Stachys, Red Archangel

These climbing woodland legumes have an earnest and delicate charm not seen in others of its kind: its small, two-tone, pea-like petals in rich pink and purple look a bit like butterflies, which may be why they're so attractive to pollinators. 

• Type: Annual
• Height: 45–75cm. 
• Flowers: June-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, verges, coastal areas
• Also known as: Fetch, Lintels

The beautiful, nodding, bell-shaped blooms of the Columbine flower come in a variety of colours, even bi-coloured, though the most common colour in the wild is a vivid blue-violet, contrasted by a shining stamen the colour of honey, which is attractive to bees and butterflies. A cute cottage classic, perfect for pots, beds and borders, as it’s easy to grow and naturalise, though it dislikes being too dry.

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 45–60cm
• Flowers: June-July 
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodlands, roadsides, grasslands
• Also known as: Dove Plant, Lady’s Shoes, Pigeon Foot

A low-growing, creeping beauty that thrives at woodland edges, but also makes for a unique lawn subject- not many other common flowers can compare to these small spikes of azure petals shining in the sun and bringing a little of the blue sky’s beauty down to earth for your garden!

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 10-20cm.
• Flowers: April-July
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Roadsides, woodland, grassland 
• Also known as: Angels’ Eyes, Blue Stars

Cowslip plants form clusters of bell-shaped, sunny yellow flowers with distinct tubed calyxes. Known for having a sweet and strong scent compared to apricots, and it has a history in folklore, with uses in weddings and other festivities. An easy-to-grow Easter-time treat!

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 15–30cm.
• Flowers: April-May 
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Meadows, woodlands, road verges
• Also known as: Fairy Cup, Key Flower, Luck Flower, Paggles

The Wild Primrose’s pale yellow, five-petalled flowers are a cottage classic! Its light colouration is a delight under trees and bushes- just imagine a shady spot illuminated by sweet-scented, hardy clusters of buttery beauty!

• Type: Perennial  
• Height: 20-30cm.
• Flowers: February-May 
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodland, grassland
• Also known as: Culver Keys, Suncups

Common Agrimony is an attractive, medium height meadow plant, consising of tall spires of star-shaped, sunny yellow flowers. An wildlife-friendly flower, it's attractive to pollinators as well as wild birds.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 40-80cm
• Flowers: June to September
• Soil requirement: Neutral, well-drained
• Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural habitat: Southern UK, grassland, meadows, roadsides
• Also known as: Church Steeples, Sticklewort, Aaron's Rod, Clot-Bur, Fairy's Wand, Money-In-Both-Pockets, Salt-And-Pepper, Sweethearts

A tall-growing upright marsh flower, which grows plentiful parachutes of pink-and-white florets on red stems, and they’re also known for their pleasant perfume when cut. This whimsically-coloured wildflower is also perfect for pollinators!

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 60–120cm.
• Flowers: July-September 
• Soil Requirement: Damp
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Marshlands, river banks
• Also known as: Hemlock Parsley, Holy Rope, Raspberries-And-Cream, Water Agrimony

Wild Angelica is a marshy wildflower boasting boisterous, tall-growing branches that are hairless and often tinted purple. Likewise, her bubbly bursts of bright white florets are often tinted with tiny pink spikes. The Wild Angelica was also once treasured as a decoration for cakes and confectionaries.

• Type: Perennial or biennial
• Height: 150–250cm.
• Flowers: July-September 
• Soil Requirement: Moist but well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun
• Natural Habitat: Damp meadows, wet woodlands, fenland
• Also known as: Garden Angelica, Wild Celery

Though it prefers cool spots in the garden, the Water Avens are warmly-hued wildflowers, with gently nodding, burgundy stems and sepals- gorgeous enough on their own, but blooming into cups of peach-coloured petals that make the perfect addition to a pond-side palette!

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 30–45cm. 
• Flowers: April-June
• Soil Requirement: Damp
• Light Requirement: Full sun to shade
• Natural Habitat: Coasts, woodlands, damp meadows
• Also known as: Chocolate Root, Indian Chocolate, Purple Avens

Best known for their distinctly-shaped and aromatic leaves, the basil plant has a lot to provide inside the garden and out, as it produces whorls of royal purple and pink petals which are perfect for pollinators. 

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 30-60cm.
• Flowers: July-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained, calcareous
• Light Requirement: Full Sunlight
• Natural Habitat: Dry meadows, forests, hedgerows
• Also known as: Cushion Calamint

A rambling, hairless hedge plant, which produces clusters of tiny, star-shaped flowers in fresh white. Noted for its sweet scent, this vigorous wildflower can grow quite tall when clambering alongside hedges and shrubs.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 30–75cm. 
• Flowers: July-August
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained, calcarerous 
• Light Requirement: Partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodlands, grasslands, hedgebanks 
• Also known as: False Baby’s Breath, Whip Tongue, Wild Madder

The Lady’s Bedstraw is a hardy, sprawing plant which bears vast whorls and clusters of tiny golden flowers. It also boasts a distinct and sweet scent, even when dried: its unusual name originates from its use to scent bedding in Victorian times.

• Type: Perennial
• Height: 15-30cm.
• Flowers: June-September
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Grassy meadows, road verges, clifftops and hills
• Also known as: Maiden’s Hair, Fenwort, Cheese Rennet

As its name suggests, the Clustered Bellflower sprouts dense bursts of vivid violet-blue flowers. Each flower is its own brilliant bouquet, on top of being hardy and attractive to bees and butterflies!

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 30–75cm.
• Flowers: June-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
• Light Requirement: Partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Grasslands, coastal cliffs 
• Also known as: Dane’s Blood

This large species of bellflower produces petals in purple and periwinkle blue. Ideal for woodland gardens and lighting up shady spots, it’s hardy and easy to naturalise!

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 90–150cm.
• Flowers: June-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Partial to full shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodlands, hedge banks 
• Also known as: Brantwood, Large Campanula

Though named for its nettle-like leaves, one mustn’t overlook the beauty of this bloom’s bells of pale, bluish-purple petals. Best planted in a dry, shady spot.

• Type: Perennial 
• Height: 50–100cm.
• Flowers: June-September 
• Soil Requirement: Well-drained
• Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
• Natural Habitat: Woodlands, hedgebanks 
• Also known as: Blue Devils, Gloves Of Mary, Throatwort