Wildflowers Of August

Seedball

The month of blue skies, sunshine and holidays, along with the occasional heatwave or torrential downpour!

We have listed a few wildflowers you might find blooming in August. Look out for different seed vessels- like the shaker-pots of poppies or the tight, fluffy, fists of wild carrot.

Did you know you can start sowing wildflowers from early late August, making it a great time to go seed collecting!

Oxeye daisy, Corn chamomile or Corn Marigold may be having a second flush of flowers.

Knapweed and Scabious are still blooming and creeping thistles can be seen along field edges or road verges. Look out for the very tall yellow Perennial Sow Thistle which looks like a monster dandelion with stiff stems. Toadflax and Birdsfoot Trefoil.

Ragwort, a much-maligned member of the aster family (read more in the link), is home to many insects including the food plant for stripy cinnabar moth caterpillars.

Some tall pink flowers you may see are Purple Loosestrife, Rosebay Willowherb and Great Hairy Willowherb.

The curly seeds of Meadowsweet, will usually have replaced the frothy white flowers. Blue flowers to look for are Vipers Bugloss, Chicory, Bellflowers and dainty Harebell.

The abundant white and pink umbels of Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) in all its various stages will be providing a food for a plethora of pollinators.

Being a biennial it takes two two years for the lacy flowers to arrive. The blooms range from large flat white to tiny, pink stars. The seed-heads are beautiful too, forming cup-shaped fists of fluffy seeds.

Fun Fact: This flower is also known as Queen Anne’s Lace, from the story of Queen Anne pricking her finger sewing, a drop of red blood falling onto her lacework. Look out for the red flower in the centre of the lacy bloom!

Towards the end of the month it will be time to get planning and scattering your wildflower seeds ready for next year’s blooms or even the year after!