Last year me and my fiancee were visiting the York Bird of Prey Centre and had decided to also visit a nearby nature reserve called the Forest of Flowers. It turned out that Google Maps had lied to us and it was in fact NOT a nature reserve but rather a private event space. Oops!

The staff were very kind and allowed is to explore the grounds for free, the weather was awful so there were no guests anyway. It was beautiful there, and inspiring! We picked up some potted wildflowers from their entrance after leaving, Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Sorrel, Ox-Eye Daisy, and Knapweed if I’m remembering correctly.

Now, there’s not a whole lot I feel I can do with my garden since I’m privately renting. But I want to make my garden a space that not only I can enjoy, but the local wildlife can as well! I cannot plant trees, bushes, install a pond or anything like that though, so I figure my best option is to sow wildflowers.

Last year I just let the garden grow wild and we had a couple of wildflowers pop up on our lawn such as Dandelion, Knapweed, Teasel, Ribwort Plantain, and Foxgloves. It was awesome, we had lots of bugs and birds visiting our garden. This year I thought it would be great to add some additional wildflowers to the garden. But it’s surprisingly difficult to find wildflowers in garden centres, especially native wildflowers. It’s a massive shame, I think!

So, I visited the Forest of Flowers website and have picked up some seed packs from there instead. Their seeds are harvested from their own wildflowers which are grown organically without herbicides or pesticides. I’m very excited to sow them and see if anything changes regarding what wildlife visitors I get!