Wildflower Seeds A to Z
From Agrimony right the way though to Yellow-rattle, there's a whole host of wildflower seeds you can choose from if a particular look is what you're going for. Each type of wildflower has its own unique set of qualities. Whether you're keen to create a meadow full of sunkissed golden wildflowers with healing properties like that of St John's-wort or you want a wildflower garden that looks pretty in pink when dressed in Greater Knapweed or Purple Loosestrife - we've got you covered.
Don't hesitate to get in touch to speak to one of our experts or request a catalogue to view our full range. Ordering regularly or looking for large volumes? Click here to apply for a trade account today - we review all applications within one working day.
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Harvest 2024 Seed Now In Stock For Next Day Delivery.
Exceptional quality yellow rattle seeds produced from UK meadow collections, freshly harvested in 2024. Cleaned to exacting standards of purity and germination to ensure we only supply the highest quality seeds. Order online today for next day delivery.
Yellow rattle is an important addition to any wildflower meadow, slowing down the rate of grass growth to create more space and opportunity for a diverse range of wildflower species. Commonly found across natural grassland meadows throughout the UK.
- Type: Annual
- Height: 20–50cm
- Flowers: May-September
- Best Sown: Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grassland, meadows
- Also known as: Corn Rattle, Hay Rattle, Penny Grass
- Seeds per gram: 270
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
This perennial plant has flat heads consisting of White flowers, the leaves are evenly distributed on the plant and have a feather-like appearance. This perennial flower has a strong aromatic presence in meadows and pastures and is loved by bees and pollinators.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-45cm
- Flowers: June-October
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, hedgerows, road verges
- Also known as: Woundwort, Soldier's Woundwort, Devil's Nettle
- Seeds per gram: 6000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
A perennial plant that much prefers growing in woodlands, hedgerows and along roadside verges. The flowers are a deep beetroot purple with white blotchy detailing on the petals. This plant has a hairy, crimson-tinted stem, it is also loved by pollinating species due to it aromatic presence.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-90cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Partial and full shade
- Natural Habitat: Woodland, hedgerows, roadside verges
- Also known as: Wood Woundwort, Hedge Nettle, Red Archangel, Whitespot
- Seeds per gram: 1000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
A wild perennial herb relative of chives, Wild Garlic (or Ramsons) grow in damp woods, hedges and on shady banks, where its garlicky aroma fills the air. The leaves of this herb are in fact very commonly found in salads or used to flavour meat dishes and sauces. Excellent plant for ground cover in a wet corner of the garden.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-80cm
- Flowers: April-June
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Woodland, hedgerows
- Also known as: Ramson, Broad-leaved Garlic, Bear's Garlic
- Seeds per gram: 180
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Named after its serpentine appearance, bearing a long, speckled stem, not only bearing thin, pale thorns to watch out for, but spikes of azure flower heads and long red stamens, like a snake’s head preparing to strike. Have trust in them, though, and they’ll provide you with beautiful border blooms that are actually a favourite of bees and butterflies!
- Type: Biennial
- Height: 25-75cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grassland, coastal, heathland
- Also known as: Blue Devil, Cat’s Tail, Snake Flower
- Seeds per gram: 230
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
This Perennial plant is a part of the Clover and Pea family. A Scrambling plant that is seen through grassy areas. yellow flowers with a pea- like appearance. The plant has a weak aroma. The leaves consist of a single pair of leaflets with tendrils. Fruit a blackish hairless pod to 4cm long.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 50-100cm
- Flowers: May-August
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Wet and moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Meadows, woodland edges, shrubs
- Also known as: Meadow Pea
- Seeds per gram: 100
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
These showy spires of violet and royal blue have an airy quality that lives up to their alternate name, ‘Bird Vetch’, with its tube-shaped blooms and long, oval-shaped tendrils both appearing quite feathery. It’s quite a climber, and thrives the most when planted with other tall flora to support it. Sports the same, familiar seed pods as others in the pea family, but when ripe, they turn deep black!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 60-120cm
- Flowers: June-August
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Hedgerows, river banks, woodlands
- Also known as: Bird Vetch, Canada Pea, Tine Grass
- Seeds per gram: 100
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Produces fiery, technicolour pom-poms in an array of colours from buttery yellow to rich red, tinting clover-like, wooly white calyces. It has a long flowering period, making it a brilliant bloom to brighten beds all summer long.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 7-15cm
- Flowers: May-October
- Best Sown: Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, verges, coastal areas
- Also known as: Devil’s Claws, Mary’s Fingers, Woundwort
- Seeds per gram: 350
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
There’s a lot to find fetching about the Vetch: its climbing tendrils of foliage carry an earnest and delicate charm, and its two-petalled, pea-like magenta flowers look a little like butterflies! A lovely legume that’s attractive to pollinators, among other animals- it’s commonly used as a plant for livestock.
- Type: Annual
- Height: 45-75cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, verges, coastal areas
- Also known as: Fetch, Lintels
- Seeds per gram: 75
Long grass bearing silver and purple spikelets in bloom. A self-seeding plant requiring very little care, its feathery flowers look best in the sun, but make an excellent addition to the palette of beds and borders, as its rugged beauty can match just about anything.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-120cm
- Flowers: June-August
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, praries, woodlands
- Also known as: Hassock Grass
- Seeds per gram: 7500
This item is currently unavailable
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
A Perennial Plant that is also commonly known as 'Eggs and Bacon' or 'Butter and Bacon'. The names that are commonly used for this plant come from the clusters of orange yolk-like flowers and buds which also have a pea-like appearance. The leaves have 5 narrow oval-shaped leaflets.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 15-25cm
- Flowers: May-October.
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, roadside verges, heathlands
- Also known as: Butter and Eggs, Eggs and Bacon, Hen and Chickens
- Seeds per gram: 600
This item is currently unavailable
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
An extra-tall plant which bears a band of little, lavender-coloured florets around its better-known spiky round flower head. An excellent wild garden plant, as it grows and naturalises well in any environment, and its seed heads are known for attracting birds and pollinating bugs, for those happy to co-exist with nature!
- Type: Biennial
- Height: 60-200cm
- Flowers: July-August
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, river banks, woodlands
- Also known as: Adam’s Flannel, Shepherd’s Staff, Venus’ Basin
- Seeds per gram: 350
A common sight across Britain, the maroon-tinted spikelets of this plant carry the distinct scent of mown hay which lingers for a long time, making it an excellent dried flower. Early-flowering, hardy and self-seeding, it’s best kept in pots and similar containers to control its rigorous growth.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-60cm
- Flowers: April-July
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands
- Also known as: Spring Grass
- Seeds per gram: 2500
This item is currently unavailable
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
A perennial wildflower. Often identifiable by the juicy red Strawberries if found in woodland, scrubland or chalky downland areas, although not related to commercial strawberries. Long rooting runners has silky-hairy trefoil leaves with white flowers that have a golden centre.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 5-30cm
- Flowers: May-June
- Best Sown: Spring or Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, dry
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Open woods, woodland edges, scrubland
- Also known as: Woodland Strawberry, Alpine Strawberry
- Seeds per gram: 3000
This item is currently unavailable
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Produces clumps of buttery yellow, star-shaped flowers with long, showy stamens that are good for attracting bees, butterflies and other pollinators. A flower of great religious importance and widely known for medicinal uses.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-60cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: River banks, meadows, hedgerows
- Also known as: Cammock, Devil’s Scourge, Rosin Rose
- Seeds per gram: 9000
A smaller breed of sorrel, bearing tiny flowers in red and pink. Its colours add a lot of flavour to the garden, and its leaves can be used as flavourings in food. Self-seeding.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 7-25cm
- Flowers: May-August
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, acidic
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, woodlands, verges
- Also known as: Sour Weed
- Seeds per gram: 2500
A wildflower with a lot of flavour! Spice up the garden with slender spires of small, scarlet blooms, which sometimes grow in a sweeter pink colour. It also bears attractive, oval leaves that taste tart when eaten. Self-seeds freely, so take care while you pepper them around.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 15-60cm
- Flowers: May-August
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, woodlands, verges
- Also known as: Sour Ducks, Vinegar Plant
- Seeds per gram: 2000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
The Self-Heal is a generous plant: it grows and naturalises in a majority of environments, requiring little fuss, and produces short spikes of maroon and violet beauty which are beloved by bees and butterflies. Its beauty only grows with the years, as it’s happy to self-seed, gifting you a garden awash in life and colour.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 20-30cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, woodlands
- Also known as: Blue Lucy, Heart of the Earth, Thimble-Flower
- Seeds per gram: 1350
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
As its name suggests, this smaller scabious specimen still produces the same lovely, lilac petals as the rest of its family, but with five-petalled florets rather than four, a shorter, slender stem and finer foliage. A wonderful wildflower to grow in chalky soil for those who’d prefer the delicate, soft beauty of the scabious in a more controlled garden.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 60-70cm
- Flowers: July-August
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, verges
- Also known as: Curl-Doddy, Lilac-Flowered Scabious
- Seeds per gram: 700
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Produces soft clusters of bluish-lilac florets, with shapely, longer outer florets. Though it appears dainty and delicate, it’s a tall-growing, hardy perennial that makes for an excellent meadow flower, especially when paired with other pastel-petalled wildflowers!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-90cm
- Flowers: July-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, verges
- Also known as: Black Soap, Egyptian Rose, Lady’s Cushion
- Seeds per gram: 130
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Though its pincushion-like, protruding anthers amidst indigo petals seem a little strange, we promise there’s nothing diabolical about the devil’s-bit scabious. In fact, its name comes from its shallow roots, which according to folklore were bitten short out of jealousy for the flower’s beauty… and, being pollen-rich and beloved by bees, it’s safe to say this flower is actually a devilishly good addition to a garden!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 50-80cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Bogs, woodland, heathlands
- Also known as: Blue Bonnets, Bobby Bright Buttons, Fore-Bit
- Seeds per gram: 600
A taller-growing, thin-branched plant which produces umbrellas of tiny white flowers. It also has pleasing, varied foliage and eventually bears attractive pink fruit. Hardy, easy to naturalise and is good for attracting pollinators.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 50-100cm
- Flowers: May-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, moist
- Light Requirement: Sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grassland, heathland
- Also known as: Lesser Burnet
- Seeds per gram: 750
A perennial plant that is a relation of the Daisy. This plant has the appearance of a thistle, but without the spines. The name Saw-Wort comes from the serrated edge of the leaves thus having a Saw-like appearance. The Saw-wort has purple flower heads and sit in branched clusters.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 70-120cm
- Flowers: July-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, open woods
- Also known as: Dyer's plumeless saw-wort
- Seeds per gram: 400
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Produces highly distinct, spoon-shaped cream petals and crinkly foliage, accented by attractive maroon stems and stamens. A subtle but sublime specimen that’s great for pollinators. Recommended for stone gardens and hedgerows.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-50cm
- Flowers: July-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Woodland, heathland, coasts
- Also known as: Garlic Sage, Hind Heal
- Seeds per gram: 1600
Maybe you're looking for something a little more unusual that's a firm favourite with the bees, in which case an ocean blue garden of Borage is what you need. Or what about the Devil's-bit Scabious? A funky looking plant that isn't half as hellish as it sounds.
All of the wildflower seeds we supply here at Boston Seeds are UK native and many of which are certified as Plants for Pollinators by the Royal Horticultural Society. So, not only will you have the most amazing wildflower garden, you'll being seriously doing your bit for the environment, too.
To learn more about each of the plant varieties we supply, check out our Guide to Wildflower Species here.
Have a question about a particular wildflower? Check out our wildflower seed advice pages for more info.
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