Bumblebee meets poppy
Wildflowers are important for any cottage garden. But they are even more urgently required in an urban environment, where pollinators have a harder time finding food. You do not have to exclusively grow natives, but basically have to secure a constant nectar flow throughout the year. When choosing classical cottage garden wildflowers, it is important to check whether they are double-flowered or not. Because the double-flowered varieties are useless for insects: The stamens have been morphed into extra petals. Hence, no pollen. Bumblebees and wild bees are still attracted to the flowers though, and spend a lot of their brief lifetime and limited energy inspecting them hopefully. In vain. In order to nourish the animals, you have to grow cultivars, which are close to the original wild varieties. I usually partially go against that rule, since I love double Cornflowers too much. But I grow a lot too make up for it. Besides, I let about half of my herbs flower. That is the best pollen you can produce, especially on Greek Oregano. Or Savory, my favourite.
Currently my balcony is lit up by some wild Chamomile (seeds collected in the Wendland) and Iceland Poppies, Papaver nudicaule.
Iceland poppies and chamomile.
Citrus-coloured spring box
Then there are the continuously evolving two meadow boxes in front of my kitchen windows/doors. One is planted in soft colours – Cornflowers, Flax (Linum usitatissimum), Phacelia, Campions (Silene latifolia), Scabiosa “Salmon Queen” and – if they manage to arrive through all the weeds – Shirley poppies. The other one contains Hordeum jubatum, Linaria licilia “Peachy”, Cornflower “Red Ball”, Scabiosa “Black Knight” and, hopefully, Crimson Clover.
Meadow boxes in front of our kitchen
Linaria licilia “Peach” seen through the kitchen window
Melittis melissiophyllum I have mentioned before… too bad, that it is pretty much ignored right now, although fully in bloom and really fragrant. The leaves have a sort of spicy, Myrrh-ish scent. Alas, the bumblebees do not care for it at all. Another great wildflower which will open soon is Agastache cana, Hummingbird mint. The native American does not have the typical liquorish scent of the species (which I loathe) but smells more like oregano or some other mediterranian spice. Leaves and blossoms are totally fab as salad-, pasta-, or spread deco. But native pollinators like them, too – so it is important to leave some unharvested. The plant behaves as a perennial on my balcony: I grew it from quite old seeds last year. It survived the winter and was one of the first ones to show fresh shoots this year.
Lathyrus sativus azureus
Today the first real Lathyrus blossom opened it`s petals, too. Lathyrus sativus (azureus), the chickling pea. It is bright azure blue, with occasional pinkish undertones. Compared with real sweet peas, it is very small – and it has no fragrance whatsoever. Nevertheless, it has the true blue all real sweet peas fail to achieve, plus it arrives earlier and lasts longer after dry spells.
sweet peas & savory 