For your customers who prefer something slightly closer to home, Garden Centre Retail has rounded up the best British-native plants for you to offer in your garden centre.
Ligustrum vulgare
wild privet
Ligustrum?can be decidous or evergreen shrubs or small trees, with simple, entire leaves and panicles of small, often unpleasantly scented white flowers in spring or summer, followed by black or deep purple berries.
L. vulgare?is a bushy deciduous shrub with dull green, lance-shaped leaves and terminal panicles of small, white, unpleasantly scented flowers in summer, followed by small black berries.
BEST USE: Low Maintenance; Hedging & Screens; Wildflower meadow; Wildlife Gardens.
Primula vulgaris?(Pr/prim)
primrose
Primula?are herbaceous or semi-evergreen perennials, forming a basal rosette of simple leaves, with salver-shaped or bell-shaped flowers which may be solitary or carried in an umbel or in whorls on an erect stem.
Primroses are rosette-forming herbaceous perennials, sometimes grown as annuals, with clusters of solitary flowers arising from the rosette in late winter or early spring.
P. vulgaris?is a perennial forming a rosette of tongue-shaped leaves, with many scented, usually primrose-yellow flowers 2.5-3.5cm across, in early spring.
BEST USE: Flower borders and beds; Low Maintenance; Banks and Slopes; Cottage & Informal Garden; Wildflower meadow; Wildlife Gardens.
Fagus sylvatica
common beech
Fagus?are large deciduous trees with smooth grey bark, ovate leaves colouring well in autumn, and inconspicuous flowers followed by usually spiny fruits.
F. sylvatica?is a large, vigorous deciduous tree with a broad, spreading crown. Leaves broadly elliptic, yellow-green in spring, rich russet-brown in autumn. Flowers small, green, followed by bristly fruits.
BEST USE: Hedging & Screens; Low Maintenance.
Anthemis arvensis
corn chamomile
Anthemis?can be perennials or annuals, with finely divided, aromatic leaves and showy white or yellow daisies.
A. arvensis?is an annual reaching 20-30cm in height. Leaves are divided and feathery, aromatic and with downy undersides. Flowering in summer, flowerheads have broad, white ray florets and central discs of yellow.
BEST USE: Wildflower meadow.
Malus sylvestris
crab apple
Malus?are small to medium-sized deciduous trees with showy flowers in spring and ornamental or edible fruit in autumn; some have good autumn foliage colour.
M. sylvestris?is a small, rounded tree with ovate leaves and clusters of pink-tinged white flowers to 5cm across in late spring, followed by yellow-green, sometimes red-flushed fruits 2-3cm across.
BEST USE: Low Maintenance; Wildflower meadow; Wildlife Gardens.
Achillea millefolium
common yarrow
Achillea?can be mat-forming or upright perennials, mostly herbaceous, with sometimes aromatic, pinnately divided or simple and toothed leaves and flattened clusters of small, daisy-like flower-heads.
A. millefolium?is a spreading stoloniferous perennial with narrow, finely pinnately dissected leaves and small, cream or pink flowerheads in flat heads in summer.
BEST USE: Wildflower meadow; Wildlife Gardens; Prairie Planting; Cottage & Informal Garden; Coastal.
Agrostemma githago
corn cockle
Agrostemma?are upright annuals with narrow, opposite leaves and solitary, 5-petalled, open trumpet-shaped flowers with long calyx lobes showing between the petals.
A. githago?is an upright annual to 75cm, with narrow grey-green leaves and open funnel-shaped magenta-purple flowers 5cm across in summer.
BEST USE: Cut Flowers; Flower borders and beds; Cottage & Informal Garden; Wildflower meadow; Wildlife Gardens.
Thalictrum minus
lesser meadow rue
Thalictrum?can be rhizomatous or tuberous perennials with ternately or pinnately divided, often attractive foliage, and panicles or racemes of small flowers with showy stamens and sometimes large colourful petal-like sepals.
T. minus?is a variable, clump-forming perennial, to 90cm tall and wide, with small 3- to 4-pinnate leaves with three or more rounded lobes. The tiny flowers borne on thin, wiry stems above the foliage are green, yellow or purple-tinted and carried in nodding heads.
BEST USE: Flower borders and beds; Cottage & Informal Garden; Wildflower meadow; Coastal.
Dipsacus fullonum
common teasel
Dipsacus?are erect biennials or perennials with simple or pinnate leaves and crowded heads of numerous small flowers in dense terminal capitula, the calyx teeth bristly.
D. fullonum?is a biennial, to 3m, erect with side branches. Foliage is bright green, prickly on lower mid-ribs, the stem leaves joined at the base to cup the stem. Flowerheads, to 6cm long, are stiffly bristly from the projecting calyx spines. The flowers are tiny and blue, appearing in a band round the flowerhead over an extended flowering time. Plant remains intact throughout winter, and seedheads attract goldfinches.
BEST USE: Banks and Slopes; Flower borders and beds; Low Maintenance; Cut Flowers; Architectural; Cottage & Informal Garden; Wildlife Gardens.
