A selection of wild flowers growing in the garden of equal delights last year (2020). There were plenty more – these are just those for which I could readily find photos. Other wildlings included docks, nettles, dandelions, white dead nettle, red campion, wild bluebells, goosegrass, wall rocket, foxgloves, tufted vetch, wild garlic, stitchwort, meadowsweet, yellow pimpernel, hogweed, cow parsley, dog’s mercury, ground ivy and wild valerian.
few flowered leek
three cornered leek, forget me not
dog tooth violet
self seeded poppy by cardoon
chicory
yarrow
cowslips
St John’s wort with marjoram
honesty
wild primrose
celandine
forget me nots
sweet cicely
Welsh poppy
buttercup
herb Robert
lady’s smock
wood avens
buttercups amidst cow parsley
purple toad flax
wild strawberries
greater celandine
alchemilla mollis
hedge woundwort
fumitory
white clover
nipplewort
evening primrose
wild pansy
ivy and fly, there were also lots of tiny flies and wasps buzzing round.
This year I have been posting photos of all the flowering plants in the garden month by month as they have appeared through the year. Most of them are collected together in the gallery below and listed on the pdf document accessible here: flowering plants in the garden of equal delights 2020.
There are 156 plants listed and I can think of a dozen or so others that somehow I managed to miss out when taking photos. I planted about fifty of all the trees, bushes, shrubs and herbaceous plants for food (for us) and the remaining one hundred plus flowering plants are all fulfilling a range of roles in the forest garden ecosystem. Whether they were planted for a specific reason, or if they ‘just arrived’, as many of the wild ones did, they each have their own role and significance. They support pollinators, they are the precursor to fruits and seeds, they provide habitat, and they give a great deal of joy as well.
As I pay close attention to the flowers and their visitors I notice that each different type of plant attracts particular insects. Many seem to attract just one type, some attract two or three different insects, and I haven’t really seen any that attract a wide of different insects at any one time (although there may be more variation over time coinciding with different insect life cycles).
In my book – the garden of equal delights – I have coined the term ‘polyfloral’ to denote plants that are exceptionally floral and bear thousands of tiny flowers, either all at once or over a period of time. These include alliums, plants in the apiaceae family such as fennel and parsley, the asteraceae such as dandelions, daisies and sunflowers, and the lamiaceae including mints, thymes and sages. The garden has these polyfloral flowers in abundance – I estimate that over half of the plants featured fall into this category, and a great many others are very floral as well. It is also notable that although I have made a careful choice of cultivated plants to attract insects, nevertheless it is often the wild plants that are particularly popular.
I particularly want to emphasise the role of flowers within the forest garden because increasing the diversity of plants – and therefore flowers – is part of increasing the diversity of life that can come and eat and live in the garden. This boosts the resilience of the garden as a whole and crucially it also forms tangible connections with other places in the vicinity. This vital interconnection therefore helps to support other ecosystems, and so on.
“…. what happens or does not happen in my garden affects my neighbours’ gardens, the woods across the road and the farms up and down the hill. And vice versa – what happens in those places affects my garden too. But further afield, across their farther boundaries their ecologies are interacting with yet others – down in the valley, across to the river, across the distant hills or along the river and the canal to the town and its industrial estates and the nearby nature reserves, alongside the road verges and the railway line and eventually reaching the very different terrain of the mountains, the moors and the coast.”
Even though the year is rolling on and the weather is changing September has been a very floral month. So far this year I have concentrated on the new flowers each month – and I was surprised to find that there were 7 new ones this month. But in addition I have also featured below the flowers that have been flowering for some time.
new flowers for September
wild strawberry
Leycesteria formosa
not sure what this wild climbing plant is
wild vetch from saved seed, recently sown
ivy flowers, these are very tiny indeed
sweet pea from New Zealand (may be wild), recently sown
scarlet flax
flowers continuing through September
At least 13 plants have continued to flower this month!
anise hyssop
evening primrose
fennel
hollyhock
penstemon
runner bean
white flax
calendula
fuschia
honeysuckle
rose
tomato
butterflies, bees, moths and more
On sunny days this month there have been an abundance of butterflies and bees, in particular on the sedum, wild marjoram and Californian poppies.
small white butterfly on wild marjoram
a cricket resting on forget me not foliage – not on flowers because it prefers the grass!
small tortoiseshell butterfly on the sedum
Californian poppy and pollinators
ivy and fly, there were also lots of tiny flies and wasps buzzing round.
The summer is slowly wearing out, the flowers are too, but even though some of them may look a little on the raggedy side compared to their original burst of glory, they are still attracting and feeding many insects and nourishing my soul as well.
Calendula from a late sowing was, I think, the only new plant to flower for the first time in August. And she was indeed glorious.
As was the second flush of roses including this beautiful bloom.
I think June will have turned out to be the most flowery month in the year, but nevertheless July is bringing forth plenty of colour for us humans and food for bees, butterflies and other insects. Here are the new flowers so far this month:
bergamot (also known as bee balm)
radish (self set)
yarrow
sage
Californian poppy
fuchsia
sow thistle, self set wild plant
ceanothus
self heal, a lovely self set wild plant
toad flax, self set wild plant
elecampane
wild marjoram which is today covered with uncountable numbers of small tortoiseshell and gatekeeper butterflies as well as bees.
June has been an incredibly floral month – there are a further 35 flowering plants to add to those that had flowered by 11 June, making a total of 53 this month. They are a mixture of wild plants, herbs, perennial and annual vegetables, garden flowers and shrubs. All utterly delightful!
wild rose which grows in the hedge
wild yarrow
perennial leek
fat hen (Chenopodium album) self seeded wild plant
penstemon
creeping Jenny
field bean
the photo is supposed to be of the chickweed below the love in a mist, it is not jlkjlkjlkj
runner bean
mountain sorrel
germander speedwell
nipplewort
potato
perennial buckwheat
courgette
the first self heal of the summer hiding at the base of the hedge
some grass that got into the border and flowers – doesn’t it look lovely!
the tiny flowers of the exquisite Japanese wineberry
edible lupin (lupins are normally poisonous, this plant is from Real Seeds and has an edible seed. I am trying it for the first time.)
anise hyssop
a willow herb (wild plant) with narrow leaves
wild marjoram, just coming out and earlier than usual
thyme
polemium
valerian
Canterbury bells (from next door)
prickly sow thistle (I think) complete with LOTS of tiny insects
It is only 11th June and already there are lots more plants in flower ….
Berberis, this was out in May but I missed it out
greater celandine
purple leaved elder – one of my favourites!
wild elder
pyracantha flowering for the first time
raspberries, the flowers are too small to see clearly but the bees are visiting!
some of my tomato plants have started to flower ….
shasta daisy
astrantia
alstromeiria
catmint – has been flowering for months, but every time I try to photograph it it just waves in the wind, so here is a blurry picture
broad-leaved willow herb, wobbling in the wind
alchemilla mollis
dock
fumitory
white clover
hedge woundwort
polemium
fruit trees and bushes, shrubs, annual and perennnial vegetables, wild and cultivated flowers all growing in a polyculture and now we can sit with them too
the garden of equal delights in pictures 