Wildflowers for the edges

I want my garden to be so full of flowers that I always have a constant supply to pick for the house. Almost every plant I’ve chosen for the beds is there because of its potential as a cut flower (or branch, or leaf) – something I can mess about with in arrangements and table centres and wreaths. But of course the problem with picking flowers is they’re then not there to look at in the garden. So this is my  solution: I’ll boost my supply of fresh pickings with loads of gorgeous wildflowers grown under the hedges and round the edges of the lawn.

Already there are forget-me-nots, bluebells and a few grape hyacinths, and we’ll have a mini meadow under the orchard trees as well. But my plan is to introduce a few of my favourite wild flowers around the perimeter of the garden in the hope that they’ll naturalise and provide an almost year-round supply of dainty blooms for the kitchen table.

My wish-list starts with sweet violet (Viola odorata) which I would love to have carpets of so I can forage the petals for crystallised sweets and jellies and drinks. The colour is just so delicious I want to eat it on everything. Next, I’ll have clumps of snake’s head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris) because they are just so insanely delicate and expensive looking. So beautiful cut for bud vases or growing in terracotta pots. I’d put wild columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) in the same category – proper fairy flowers. 

I’m not a huge fan of yellow but I make exceptions for wild primroses (Primula vulgaris), which have the winter wildflower market completely sewn up, and bird’s foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), which I was delighted to discover are edible. And of course there’s the little nodding heads of cowslips (Primula veris) – so lemon-and-lime and spring-y and looking like little posies all on their own. Sigh.

For delicate flowers and then little ruby berries in summer I’ll try to get some wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca) going. If I’m successful, as I was in our old garden, just one or two plants will throw out plenty of runners within a year or two and soon we’ll have enough fruit for both our garden picnics and any passing country mice. The fruit, the flowers and leaves all look gorgeous in wildflower arrangements or strewn down the garden table at summer barbeques. 

Lastly, now that the children are old enough to be trusted not to put anything and everything in their mouths, I plan to have spires of foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) in the bigger gaps by the hedges. White, pink, purple, apricot… randomly placed and left to self-seed. Because they are just so magical. And we occasionally have visiting foxes, who may need gloves.