On this page are some pictures and comments about my favourite flowers,particularly the ones I grow at home.
One that is very much at home here is the Foxglove Digitalis purpurea which self-seeds all round the garden - cutting the flower spikes off before they can set seed keeps the situation under control and can encourage an extra year of life out of what should be a biennial plant.
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| Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) |
Although the original parent plants were from seeds of 'Sutton's Apricot', it didn't take many generations for most of them to revert back to the deep pink of the native plant, though we still occasionally get a surprise and one will come up pale pink or cream. They look fabulous at the back of the borders in the back garden, and in drifts through the front - don't eat them and wash your hands after touching as they are poisonous, though.
Another cottage-garden favourite is the Columbine (
Aquilegia), which self-seeds almost as effectively as the foxglove, and also quickly reverted from the long-spurred hybrids raised from seed - there are still a couple of these pale yellow flowers, but they are outnumbered by pink and purple "Granny's Bonnet".
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| Long-spurred Aquilegia |
Last, but not least, of the prolific perennial self-seeders is Lady's Mantle (
Alchemilla mollis) with its pretty leaves and frothy lime-green flowers. It makes such effective ground-cover that it took over my original informal herb garden scheme completely.
Summer colour is guaranteed from annual flowers that self-seed and spread through both flower and vegetable patches. Field poppies in a range of colours appear every year, along with
Papaver somniferum.
