SPOTLIGHT ON: WILDFLOWERS
Beautiful, fragrant and colourful, wildflowers not only make a nice change from bedding plants for containers, they are also a wildlife-friendly alternative to more cultivated perennials as they attract butterflies and bees.
Wildflowers are low-maintenance too as they behave like hardy annuals and replace themselves with self-sown seedlings.
If you already have cowslips or primroses growing in the garden, collect the ripe seedheads and sprinkle them in the lawn. Scatter primroses in damp shade and cowslips in open sun, and with any luck you will have bigger and bonnier colonies next year.
Most garden centres stock wildflowers but be sure to choose the right plant for the right situation. A nice patch of Queen Anne’s lace (cow parsley) is ideal for a wild corner and good for cutting if you like a natural-style vase of flowers indoors.
Bugle makes first-class ground cover in the shade under trees or shrubs, perfect for the floor of a mixed border where it can romp around with naturalised spring bulbs.
If you have a dry sunny bank, plant a carpet of wild thyme. Add some rock rose, cheddar pinks and thrift, or go for small scabious and salad burnet. It will make a lovely place to sit and, apart from a little light weeding, is almost maintenance-free.
For a wild patch with longish grass in the sunlight, you could plump for ox-eye daisy, hardheads (knapweed) and teasel (which will attract goldfinches), while in a woodland-style corner with light shade you can build in atmosphere by planting red campion and greater stitchwort.