Bridging conventional gardens with aesthetic and useful herbaceous weeds merges wild beauty with tamed functionality, creating a harmonious balance. 

Traditionally, gardens valued ornamental plants and manicured lawns, keeping wild native plants well out of the way. However, bringing these plants internationally in amongst hybrids creates a more biodiverse and resilient garden. Incorporating species such as dandelions, chicory, yarrow, fennel, and teasel adds visual beauty, diversity, and architectural structure while attracting wildlife. These plants require minimal care, making them ideal for busy lives & sustainable gardening practices.

When you work with nature, rather than against it, you have an ecosystem on your side, forming a foundation to build upon. Teasel and fennel, for example, provide food for birds, shelter for insects, and vertical interest as ornamental plants. Herbs like valerian and yarrow are both aesthetically pleasing and excellent for pollination, as well as having medicinal uses. Yarrow, with its deep roots, supports beneficial insects and improves soil health. Allowing more diversity in lawns with clover and dandelions enhances the garden environment. Clover fixes nitrogen in the soil, improving fertility, while dandelions offer an additional opportunity to make more interesting salads and Chamomile provides soothing teas and medicinal benefits, creating an insect-rich habitat that promotes pollination and contributes to a flourishing garden.

There are many more plants with medicinal, culinary, and diverse contributions to the garden. If this is not enough to spark interest, consider that these plants have spent millennia becoming perfect for their environment, making your job as a gardener easier while supporting the ecosystem. Integrating herbaceous weeds into conventional gardens requires a shift in perception. Recognizing their value beyond being nuisances, gardeners can blend these plants seamlessly into landscapes. This approach enhances aesthetic and functional diversity, promoting environmental sustainability and creating spaces that are both beautiful and beneficial to the ecosystem.

For further information about Landscaping /installation and integrating the wild into your space, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Call Alex on 07421 085 788.

​contribution by Alice Rollinson, thanks Alice

There are many different thoughts that can lead me to go out looking for wild food. Mainly though, they fall into two camps: “I could do with some leafy greens,” or “I could do with some mindfulness/therapy.”


​Over five years ago I moved to Cornwall, and although I’ve loved mushrooming since I was a child, it’s only in the last couple of years that I really started paying more attention to plants. A couple of years ago, it had been a while since I’d been mushrooming, and a beautiful solo adventure to a new spot reignited my love for it. It must have been then that I decided I didn’t want to rely on just one part of the year to get this feeling. I wanted to learn more about what you could gather all year round, which lead me to think more about plants.
 

Without knowing it you probably already know a good few wild edibles: brambles, nettles, dandelions… That’s how it started for me. Then one time, along with my sister and mum, I went on an organised foraging walk here on the coast. Gaining knowledge about some new plants sparked my interest further and had a snowball effect. Then learning more and more new plants randomly here and there whilst walking with or chatting with friends and family… It just changed the way I looked at things. I observed more during my walks, and I wanted to know what was what. It does surprise me just how much I’ve learnt through curiosity and interest. Gathering wild food and gaining knowledge on it is a satisfying and rewarding thing. I think the more you know, the more you want to know and the easier it becomes to absorb new knowledge.
 
Going out to gather wild edibles is a different way of looking at and engaging with your environment. By default you connect and interact with the land, you have to pay attention to your surroundings and engage your senses. I have no doubt that this form of focused awareness and presence has a great benefit for mind health. For me it definitely feels like mindfulness and a form of therapy. And how great it is to then on top of that have access to free food that’s full of nutrients, not only because it’s freshly picked, but also because it’s from more nutrient-rich wild and uncultivated soil.
 
In a supermarket you only have access to a handful of different leafy green varieties, but when you go for a walk you could be surrounded by dozens of edible plants without knowing it (and of course deadly poisonous ones too!). We’ve experienced a great loss in our connection to nature and food. The knowledge of wild edibles, something that is somewhere deep in all our blood, these days isn’t so readily available or accessible to everyone, and can all too easily start to seem like a fancy interest for the lucky people who have time on their hands.
 
It’s important to note though, that going out and picking plants to eat isn’t in itself a sustainable act, and on the contrary, when done in a non-mindful way, can actually be very damaging to nature and ecosystems. Something to remember is to never take more than what you will eat, and always leave plenty for wildlife… after all they don’t have grocery shops, and they completely rely on wild food. So go gently, and be mindful. Modern agriculture has a devastating impact on the planet and on the welfare of animals and humans, but with how densely populated the world currently is, plus how little wild spaces are left in comparison, if we all went to forage our own food right now this could have pretty interesting implications on the natural world too. Of course, it doesn’t look like we’re all suddenly going to do that, but it’s just good to stay mindful of how you interact with the natural world, whether it’s the environmental/ethical impact of the food you buy in a shop, or how you pick the mushrooms in the forest.
 
 
Here are a few common edible plants you may find it nice to get to know, and some of which you likely already know. These notes are not meant to be a guide in identification, just a little personal introduction to them that might inspire you to investigate further.
 
Nettle
I’m sure everybody knows this one! Pick the top couple/few layers of leaves of this super food, and either make a nettle tea, nettle soup, add it to curry or pasta sauces, make it into a pesto, or just steam it and use it like any other cooked leafy green. You can use gloves if, unlike me, you don’t like the sting!

​
 
Dandelion
Such a versatile plant. I’m known to not bother de-weeding this nutritious medicinal plant from my veg beds, as I think of it more as a salad crop than a weed! You can eat the leaves, flowers, stems and cook the root. The leaves have a bitter taste, which I personally really like. I love the younger leaves added to salad (as it’s quick, easy and means you keep more nutrients intact by not cooking) and I’ve made soups and pestos out of the leaves too. The flowers are also great in salads, and I’ve made dandelion syrup from them before for a cake recipe, which is a nice thing to do when you have more time. But I’m definitely all about the faff-free plants that you can either eat raw or quickly cook, and dandelion is one of those for sure.
 
Clover
I think most of us know what a clover looks like with its three leaves, and how common it is. Both the leaves and flowers are edible, but up till now I’ve mainly only picked the flowers to add to salads. I really love adding flowers to salads, mainly for the colours and how it looks :)
 
Common sorrel
Sorrel is one of those I had heard about for so long and wanted to find, but somehow only came across my first one way later… and now I see it everywhere! It really is a common plant. It grows in a rosette, and the main identifying feature is the pointed tails at the base of the arrow shaped leaf. It has a lovely sour citrusy taste, and I most like it added fresh to salads.
 
Pennywort
I love this succulent plant. It grows from stone walls and rock crevices and has a distinct appearance, so it’s an easy one to identify. It has a lovely fresh crisp taste and texture, and is great added to salads, curries, cooked dishes, or as a raw garnish to cooked dishes, to add freshness and texture. Be gentle when picking this one as the roots of the plant come up with the plant very easily if you’re not careful.
 
Ribwort plantain
Another very common and highly nutritious plant that seems to grow almost everywhere. You can add the leaves to salads, and also add it cooked to dishes you would use other leafy greens in. I’d say I eat this one mainly because it’s so common and nutritious, not because it’s particularly tasty. I haven’t tried them myself, but apparently the flower buds have a mushroomy taste.
 
Honeysuckle
I’d known and loved honeysuckle and its beautiful scent for so long before I realised the flowers were edible! I add them to salads, and decorate cakes with them :)
 
Sea beet (coastal)
This rich green plant with its shiny succulent leaves can be found around the coast. It’s a great one to know about because it’s both very common and also delicious. Similar to spinach but tastier, and like spinach can be eaten raw or cooked.
Click hereThe Secret Wild Garden 
 
Contribution by Maia Walczak words and pictures 

MARCH FOR THE SUMMER BULBS
During the month of March the northern hemisphere spring equinox occurs, thus the length of
daylight is equal to that of darkness. From then onwards the daylight hours increase and the
gardening season is well and truly upon us and no doubt a floriferous spring and summer to look
forward to.

A variety of summer bloom can come from the bulbous plants and the month of March is ideal to
plant the following popular bulbs:

- Dahlias
- Gladioli
- Begonias
- Crocosmia
- Cannas Lily

All of the above can be regarded as sub-tropical plants, which thrive in the sunny and warm
locations of the garden. Therefore, it is best to take heed of the weather forecast and not to proceed
with planting if a frost is imminent.

Essentially the difference between spring bulbs and summer bulbs is that the spring bulbs require
several weeks of cold temperatures to trigger the upward growth, hence they are planted in autumn
and remain in the soil throughout the winter with growth and blossom occurring in spring.
However, the summer bulbs with their preference for a warmer climate do not require this slumber
period of cold temperatures.

The term bulb is used generically as it includes bulbs, tubers, corms and rhizomes. They are all
underground storage organs, the correct name which classifies them all under one umbrella is
‘Geophytes’ originating from Greek, earth (Geo) and plant (phytes).

The planting depths can vary depending on the type of bulb, a good rule of thumb is two to three
times the size of the bulb which more than often equates to planting approximately 100mm deep.
Dahlias are root tubers and can benefit from being pot planted in a greenhouse for the initial growth
to commence and then transplanted into the garden, this is to ensure they do not succumb to any
frosts. It is however, the temperature of the soil, a minimum of 13c and not the air temperature
which contributes to healthy and beautiful dahlias, therefore, it is best to choose an area with full
sun and lighter, free drainage soil.

Gladioli and Crocosmias are both corms and to be planted approximately 100mm deep and it is
advisable to prepare the planting bed by adding some compost after loosening the soil with a garden
fork. The Crocosmia corms will benefit from being planted in clumps, whereas, the Gladioli should
be planted individually with the point of the corm facing upwards and by placing several in close
vicinity to one another, one will be rewarded with a fabulous display of blossom. Gladioli also
make excellent cut flowers for the enthusiastic florists amongst us.

Begonia tubers are suited for containers and hanging baskets and will provide a continuous colour
throughout the summer and autumn. The fibrous rooted variety are more suitable for the garden
beds. The tubers have a convex side which is planted downwards, the concave side will posses the
new growth and faces upwards. Plant in a pot with a thin layer of gravel/shingle to allow for
drainage then the remainder with compost and plant the tuber just beneath the surface.

The range of colourful begonias available ensure hanging baskets are a great addition to any garden.
The canna lily is a rhizome (underground stem) and the large bold tropical leaves and striking
flowers make for a terrific display and should be planted in full sun and a sheltered location away
from strong winds. Plant the rhizomes, with the growing points facing upwards, 100mm deep with
500mm spacing between each one for a superb summer display and then water thoroughly.
​
It is highly recommended to use a soil thermometer probe before the planting of summer bulbs, then
one can be sure the necessary soil temperature of 13c has been reached for a successful summer
bloom.