Bumble Borage by Sara K Bishop on Flickr
These are some of my favourite flowers, simple but colourful flowers, adding a splash of nectar, pollen & colour to that verdant forest garden green
I like forest gardens, obviously. Although they can be very… green. In the midst of this wintry spell here in West Wales, I’ve sown some flowers, pollinator friendly flowers, that will also add a zing of colour to the borders.
I’m buckling down on the perennial vegetable front, inspired by the likes of Alison @BackyardLarder (see her 2019 review), Mandy @IncredibleVeg and Stephanie @Steph_Hafferty, so I planted up a grouping of sorrel, 3 x Broad-Leaved Sorrel and 3 x ‘Blood Veined’ Sorrel. I’ve found it’s much more productive to plant in groups rather than individually, otherwise you’re often scrabbling around for enough to harvest.
My rather messy sorrel corner, six plants in all
As you can see from the photo, there’s plenty of room for flowers. The ones I’ve chosen are all easy to grow, a bonus for my clumsy propagation skills, and excellent for beneficial insects:
- Bergamot (Monarda didyma)
Perennial, leaves & flowers in salads, make aromatic tea - Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
Annual, edible leaves & flowers, dye from petals - Borage (Borago officinalis)
Annual, amazing bee plant, edible flowers - Poached Egg Plant (Limnanthes douglasii)
Annual, supereasy to grow, great for bees & hoverflies, will self-sow - Marigold ‘Naughty Marietta’ (Tagetes patula)
Annual, classic companion plant for veg plots
Monarda didyma, photo by Alwyn Ladell on Flickr
Total cost £7.05GBP, which is a total bargain, and I’ll make sure to collect the seeds for even more colour next year.