Wildflower Seeds A to Z
From Agrimony right the way though to Yellow-rattle, there's a whole host of wildflower seeds you can choose from if a particular look is what you're going for. Each type of wildflower has its own unique set of qualities. Whether you're keen to create a meadow full of sunkissed golden wildflowers with healing properties like that of St John's-wort or you want a wildflower garden that looks pretty in pink when dressed in Greater Knapweed or Purple Loosestrife - we've got you covered.
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Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
For those with wildflower gardens, the dandelion-like, bright bursting yellow rosettes of the Autumn Hawkbit are a good way to bring in some extra sunshine. A long-lived and hardy wetland plant beloved by bees, and its seeds are also attractive to finches!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 15-50cm
- Flowers: July-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, rocky ridges, pathways.
- Also known as: Fall Dandelion
- Seeds per gram: 1000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
A Perennial Plant that is also commonly known as 'Eggs and Bacon' or 'Butter and Bacon'. The names that are commonly used for this plant come from the clusters of orange yolk-like flowers and buds which also have a pea-like appearance. The leaves have 5 narrow oval-shaped leaflets.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 15-25cm
- Flowers: May-October.
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, roadside verges, heathlands
- Also known as: Butter and Eggs, Eggs and Bacon, Hen and Chickens
- Seeds per gram: 600
Once prized for a range of culinary uses, the Borage herb has a unique palette among wild flowers which is sure to spice up your garden. Its brilliant blue, star-shaped flowers and hairy, scarlet stems are attractive to pollinators and easy to grow with minimal fuss.
- Type: Annual
- Height: 30-60cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Forest verges, meadows
- Also known as: Starflower Cool Tankard, Tailwort
- Seeds per gram: 100
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Produces a deep maroon flower head crowned with thistle-like florets of pink and purple, with dashes of a deep reddish-black. Don’t let its prickly appearance fool you- it’s an exceptionally hardy plant, but it has a softer side as a favourite of butterflies and bees!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-60cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, forest verges
- Also known as: Bell Weed, Hardhead, Tassel
- Seeds per gram: 500
The mallow is a hearty plant in every sense of the word: it’s able to adapt to a variety of soils and seasons, and bears awfully lovey-dovey heart-shaped pink petals with darker veins. It’s also been prized for its numerous culinary and medicinal uses.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-90cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Meadows, road verges
- Also known as: Cheese Cakes, Marsh Mallow, Round Dock
- Seeds per gram: 150
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
The wild red poppy is seen in fields across the UK. One of our most popular wildflowers. Synonymous with the 1914-18 Great War. Ideally requires a frost or chilling to help germination.
- Type: Annual
- Height: 30-60cm
- Flowers: May-July
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grassland, meadow, road verges
- Also known as: Corn Poppy, Corn Rose, Field Poppy, Flanders Poppy
- Seeds per gram: 11000
A wildflower with a lot of flavour! Spice up the garden with slender spires of small, scarlet blooms, which sometimes grow in a sweeter pink colour. It also bears attractive, oval leaves that taste tart when eaten. Self-seeds freely, so take care while you pepper them around.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 15-60cm
- Flowers: May-August
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, woodlands, verges
- Also known as: Sour Ducks, Vinegar Plant
- Seeds per gram: 2000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
A creeping perennial wildflower with Large, white daisy-like flowers. They’re easy enough to grow along with the benefit of being attractive to pollinating species, and will reward you with a strong aroma similar to apples.
- Type: Annual
- Height: 20-30cm
- Flowers: May-July
- Best Sown: Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands
- Also known as: Mayweed, Field Chamomile
- Seeds per gram: 5000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
An exceptionally hardy wildflower which produces golden, daisy-like blooms about 5cm in diameter. It’s also ideal for attracting bees and butterflies, and has been noted to have a pleasant scent.
- Type: Annual
- Height: 15-45cm
- Flowers: June-October
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Hedgerows, meadows
- Also known as: Guild Weed, Yellow Daisy, Yellow Ox-Eye
- Seeds per gram: 750
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
The corncockle’s beauty is almost artistic: magenta petals fading to white, laced with veins of deep purple. Grows tall and proud on soft, silvery stems. What’s not to love?
- Type: Annual
- Height: 60-120cm
- Flowers: June-August
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, sandy
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, roadsides
- Also known as: Cat’s Eyes, Kiss-Me-Quick
- Seeds per gram: 80
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Famed for its unique and beautiful colour, with perfect pale blue petals tinted with purple in a fluffy formation. This wildflower lends itself to many colour combinations and is highly attractive to pollinators.
- Type: Annual
- Height: 30-60cm
- Flowers: June-August
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, farmland
- Also known as: Bachelor’s Button
- Seeds per gram: 200
A perennial wildflower that grows rapidly during the summer months. Cow Parsley has a hollow stem and grows to be very tall. White umbrella-like flowers that look like lace. Usually found in large clusters on roadside verges, hedgerows and woodland areas.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 60-90cm
- Flowers: April-June
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Hedgerows and woodland edges
- Also known as: Queen Anne's Lace, Lady's Lace
- Seeds per gram: 200
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
One shouldn’t overlook the beaming yellow florets of the dandelion! Some treasure dandelions as a vitamin-rich food source, and they’re a hardy, easy-to-grow flower that’s sure to attract pollinators and bring an extra splash of sunshine to your garden. They’re named from the French word “dent-de-leon,” or “lion’s tooth,” referring to their deeply serrated leaves.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 10-45cm
- Flowers: April-May
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Meadows, road verges, fields
- Also known as: Bitterwort, Clock Flower, Lion’s Tooth
- Seeds per gram: 8000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
The dark mullein is a flower with a lot of layers to its beauty, producing spikes of buttery yellow, five-petalled flowers that are rather cheery, but crowned with sophisticated wine-red stamens, all of it wreathed in hairy green foliage. A plant with a peculiar palette that’s sure to be striking in any arrangement.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 15-45cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Road verges, hedgerows
- Also known as: Black-Rooted Mullein, Tall Mullein
- Seeds per gram: 11000
The Evening Primrose’s fragrant bell-shaped flowers are welcome in any garden, and grow in shades of yellow, pink and white on tall stems. They’re easy to grow in any soil for those who want a beautiful bloom to light up the summer evenings.
- Type: Biennial
- Height: 100-150cm
- Flowers: June-October
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, sandy
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Roadside verges, meadows
- Also known as: Cure-All, Four O’Clock, German Rambion
- Seeds per gram: 2250
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
There is something strangely unforgettable about this flower’s simple-but-unique tiny, baby-blue blooms with rare bursts of pink, and silvery foliage. They’re also perfect for pollinators, and have a knack for self-seeding.
- Type: Annual
- Height: 7-25cm
- Flowers: April-October
- Best Sown: Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Road-sides, dry grasslands
- Also known as: Blue Mouse-Ear, Scorpion Grass
- Seeds per gram: 4000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Great Mullein features tall spires wrapped in soft, silvery leaves, topped with clusters of pale-gold flowers. Famous for its velvety texture, it has a long history of use and is a favourite of bees and butterflies, some bees even use its fine hairs for nesting. A wildlife-friendly plant that brings a bright, distinctive touch to the back of borders.
- Type: Biennial
- Height: 100-180cm.
- Flowers: July-September
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Woodland margins, clearings, waste grounds
- Also known as: Aaron’s Rod, Feltwort, Velvet Plant
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
A sharp and showy-looking flower, blooming into starburst-shaped, thistle-like magenta florets. The Greater Knapweed is hardy and tall-growing- grow it alone to let its brambly beauty shine forth and attract plenty of butterflies, or contrast it with softer-shaped wildflowers, like the ox-eye daisy.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 40-90cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, cliff-sides
- Also known as: Black Top
- Seeds per gram: 130
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
A hardy perennial with small, white starry flowers, best clambering up hedges or shrubs. Sweetly scented, Hedge Bedstraw will attract pollinators and beneficial insects and is commonly found on dry, grassy hedgebanks and grassland.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 30-60cm
- Flowers: July-September
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, dry
- Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grassland, meadows
- Also known as: False Babies Breath
- Seeds per gram: 2000
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Produces fiery, technicolour pom-poms in an array of colours from buttery yellow to rich red, tinting clover-like, wooly white calyces. It has a long flowering period, making it a brilliant bloom to brighten beds all summer long.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 7-15cm
- Flowers: May-October
- Best Sown: Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained, chalky
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, verges, coastal areas
- Also known as: Devil’s Claws, Mary’s Fingers, Woundwort
- Seeds per gram: 350
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Much like its odd title, the ‘Lady’s Bedstraw’ carries riches in a rough-and-tumble manner, bearing vast whorls and clusters of tiny golden flowers. It also boasts a distinct and sweet scent, even when dried. A hardy, sprawling plant that’s sure to make a fine bed for a wild garden.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 15-30cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Autumn
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun or partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Grassy meadows, road verges, clifftops and hills
- Also known as: Maiden’s Hair, Fenwort, Cheese Rennet
- Seeds per gram: 1600
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
This Perennial plant is a part of the Clover and Pea family. A Scrambling plant that is seen through grassy areas. yellow flowers with a pea- like appearance. The plant has a weak aroma. The leaves consist of a single pair of leaflets with tendrils. Fruit a blackish hairless pod to 4cm long.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 50-100cm
- Flowers: May-August
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Wet and moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Meadows, woodland edges, shrubs
- Also known as: Meadow Pea
- Seeds per gram: 100
Plants for Pollinators highlights plants selected by the RHS as scientifically proven to tackle the declines in bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
Watch out! This chaotic-sounding, robust and hardy marsh flower may just flood your pond-side with plumes of pretty pink and purple petals, which just so happen to be perfect plants for pollinators.
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 60-120cm
- Flowers: June-September
- Best Sown: Spring
- Soil Requirement: Moist
- Light Requirement: Full sun and partial shade
- Natural Habitat: Marshes, riverbanks, fens
- Also known as: Black Blood, Rainbow Weed, Red Sally
- Seeds per gram: 13600
The Deadnettle, despite its name, is a long-lasting, hardy and sprawling plant that can really bring a wild garden to life! Grows charming little whorls of pink and purple petals, as well as attractive red-tinted, heart-shaped foliage as it matures. Truly a hearty flower to get your garden buzzing with energy, especially as it's a favourite of bees and butterflies!
- Type: Perennial
- Height: 7-30cm
- Flowers: March-October
- Best Sown: Autumn or Spring
- Soil Requirement: Well-drained
- Light Requirement: Full sun
- Natural Habitat: Grasslands, hedgerows, road verges
- Also known as: Sweet Archangel, Bad Man’s Posies
- Seeds per gram: 1000
Wildflower Seeds A to Z FAQs
How long do wildflowers take to grow from seed?
Annual wildflowers flower within the same growing season, typically within 8–12 weeks of sowing. Perennial wildflowers develop foliage first and reach full flowering in year two.
What is the difference between annual and perennial wildflower seeds?
Annual wildflowers bloom in the first season and reseed naturally. Perennial wildflowers return each year, gradually improving and filling the space over time.
Can wildflowers be grown alongside grass seed?
Yes. Wildflower seeds can be mixed into existing grass areas, though mowing must be reduced during flowering periods. For improved establishment, use low-vigour grasses and introduce Yellow Rattle. We have a range of wildflower grass seed mixes available to buy online.
What are the best British wildflower seeds for gardens?
Native British wildflower seeds such as Oxeye Daisy, Cornflower, Meadow Buttercup, Red Campion and Field Poppy are ideal for creating wildlife-friendly meadows. They are hardy, low-maintenance and suited to UK soils and climates.
Which wildflowers are best for bees and pollinators?
Bee-friendly wildflowers include Cornflower, Viper’s Bugloss, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Oxeye Daisy and Knapweed. These provide long flowering periods, strong nectar yields and varied pollen sources.
When is the best time to sow wildflower seeds?
Wildflower seeds can be sown in early spring (March-May) or late summer to autumn (August-October). Autumn sowing often produces stronger first-year growth as seeds benefit from winter chilling.
What soil is best for Wildflowers?
Wildflower seeds perform best in low-fertility soil where grasses grow less aggressively, allowing flowers to dominate.
What yellow wildflower species can I grow from seed?
Popular yellow wildflower seeds include Meadow Buttercup, Yellow Rattle, St John’s Wort, Lady’s Bedstraw and Kidney Vetch. These brighten meadow landscapes and offer value for bees and butterflies.
What purple wildflower seeds are good for wildlife?
Purple wildflower seeds are great for attractign bees such as Borage, Viper’s Bugloss, Field Scabious, Musk Mallow, Tufted Vetch and Purple Loosestrife. Many of these are long-flowering and highly attractive to pollinators.
Which wildflowers help improve soil biodiversity?
Species such as Yellow Rattle reduce strong grasses, creating space for more diverse meadow flowers. Legume species like Birds-foot Trefoil also add nitrogen back into soil.
Why Choose Boston Seeds?
Maybe you're looking for something a little more unusual that's a firm favourite with the bees, in which case an ocean blue garden of Borage is what you need. Or what about the Devil's-bit Scabious? A funky looking plant that isn't half as hellish as it sounds.
All of the wildflower seeds we supply here at Boston Seeds are UK native and many of which are certified as Plants for Pollinators by the Royal Horticultural Society. So, not only will you have the most amazing wildflower garden, you'll being seriously doing your bit for the environment, too.
Choosing the Right Quantity of Wildflower Seed
Whether you're just looking for wildflower seed for a small patch or land or looking for large quantities for landscape projects we have a wide range of sizes. At Boston seeds you can buy our wildflower seed in multiple sizes including 50g, 100g, 250g, 1kg and 5kg.
Have a question about a particular wildflower? Check out our wildflower seed advice pages for more info.
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We take quality seriously, supplying products you can trust. Our grass seed is DEFRA-certified for purity and germination, utilising the highest quality cultivars recommended by the Sports Turf Research Institute. Wildflower products are of known UK provenance and flower bulbs are sourced directly from the finest growers in the UK and the Netherlands.
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