![]() Despite their capricious nature, they remain my favourite.’ ‘Then, I bought a house there myself and found that they grew in the rough turf of my garden, which was a dream come true. ‘Dozens of them erupted from the grassy bank outside a house on the north coast of the Isle of Wight,’ Alan added. It’s also a flower with committed fans: Alan Titchmarsh himself has named it his favourite wildflower, calling it ‘a curiously shaped flower of such insectivorous complexity that it seems unreal’ when asked in a 2015 Plantlife survey to find the nation’s favourite wildflower. ‘We have carpets of them at Gravetye and the sight of their brilliant gold through the meadow, signalling the start of spring, is one of the most marvellous things in the year.’Ī special treat for the observant eye: in limestone grassland, where its arrestingly convincing flowers are backed with a pink triangle. ‘It’s hard to pick one plant above all others, but, if I have to chose, it would be the wild daffodil,’ he said. Tom Coward, head gardener at Gravetye Manor, has previously named these as his favourite wildflowers in Country Life. Locally abundant in damp meadows and thin woodland, where its distinctive pale-yellow flowers are admired each Easter. The pleated yellow flowers of this doubtful native are often found in old garden rockeries, where they seed abundantlyįlowering shyly by the woodland edge, this familiar plant’s little stars of blue and pink are known to every dog-walker On grassy banks in summer, the big, shiny, pink or white flowers above delicate foliage look like a garden escape Look for the delicate pink flowers of this tall perennial in marshes and by watercourses in early summer The little clumps of bacon-and-eggs in rough limestone pasture are a sign that other floral beauties are nearby The drifting scent of this hedgerow climber on a May evening is an abiding memory of the English countryside On a tall herbaceous perennial, these familiar shallow pincushions of violet-blue swing about on verges in late summer Gardening writer and regular Country Life contributor Steven Desmond named this as his favourite wildlower ‘because it’s especially British, everyone knows it and it adorns our ancient woods each spring.’ The pendulous flowers hang distinctively on one side. Meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense) Meadow cranesbillīig blue, white or violet flowers on a handsome plant, one of the signatures of midsummer in limestone grassland and vergesĪmong the marshes and riversides, look out for this quietly elegant plant with its hanging bells of maroon and yellowĮngland’s glory in May, forming massed displays in ancient woods. One of the minor pleasures among the undisturbed grassland is this delicate, yellow-flowered creature, which, when dried, has the scent of new-mown hay ![]() ![]() Tall and pink, and sometimes white, lighting up woodland and bracken slopes in early summer and irresistible to beesĪn opportunist in cleared ground, producing its water-filled leaves and softly tactile, lilac-ringed, egg-shaped blooms in late summerĪ special treasure to find among the dunes and marram grass, with its silvery foliage and blue flowers Beware though: this is among the common plants that are dangerous to dogs and cats.Ī shallow dome of blue-green, waxy leaves on a shingle foreshore, with richly scented off-white flowers on topĪn easy umbellifer to recognise because of its distinctively concave, off-white flowerhead on verges and coastal walks everywhere This traditional favourite among scented flowers can be sought out among the limestone pavements of the Pennines. The tall, solitary, slender plant by a dusty roadside in late summer with a brilliant blue daisy flower on top Cornflowerįamously bright blue and surprisingly tall, this is another cornfield exile more commonly seen nowadays as a garden annual These lovely flowers were chosen by wildflower experts Caz Buckingham and Andrea Pinnington as some of their favourites.Ĭornflower (Centaurea cyanus) growing in a traditional hay meadow at College Lake nature reserve, Buckinghamshire. Or lady’s smock, or milkmaids: a film of pastel hue across a damp meadow or grassy verge in late spring. Powder-blue bells on the slightest of frameworks flickering in the summer breeze on heathy turf: the bluebell of Scotland Tread carefully to admire this brilliant-yellow flower, which lights up the marsh and woodland stream in early spring Overlooking the sea on ledges, this neat green mat with its pink pincushion flowers is tougher than it looksįrom compacted pastures to suburban lawns, the Anglo-Saxon ‘Day’s Eye’ is a familiar image of retiring modesty Shady hedgerows in May foam with the green and white of this familiar umbellifer, now a show-garden must-haveĪ woodland plant on limestone, the flowers of this garden ancestor symbolised a flight of doves to the medieval mind Country Life's Top 100 architects, builders, designers and gardeners.
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