ACROLINIUM
A beautiful and delicate flower in shades of white and pink. Attractive to pollenating insects it cau be cut and dried for flower arrangements. Once the initial blooms have been picked it branch and produce many many more than if just left and will remain more compact.
BORAGE (Borago offinalis)
The bees love this. Flowers from May on our site. The kids like to eat the flowers too.
CALIFORNIAN POPPY (Eschscholzia californica) "Golden values"
A really cheery plant that is a good benificial insect attractor.
CERINTHE (Major purpurescens)
Another fairly early blue flowerer the bees seem to love. I they self seed at a civilized level. Even up here above 300m in the North East some have stood buried by snow for 4 weeks and are now again showing signs of growth. Impressive for an annual.
CHAMOMILE (Chamomila matricaria)
Both beautiful and useful. I am finding that the flowere heads from quarter to half a square meter of this, picked every 3 to 7 days through the summer, provides more than enough calming tea to get me through the year.
CLAYTONIA (Claytonia perfoliata) , Winter Purslane, Miners Lettuce
For me, sown in Aug / Sept this will provide a useful early salad through in to the hungry gap.
CORN FLOWER "Blue Diadem"
Of the varieties i have grown this is my current favourite. Produces a profusion of deep sky blue flowers for a long period.
DILL (Anethum graveolens)
This is the traditional herb variety of Dill. The fresh or dried leaf is especially usefull with fish and chicken as well as when making some pickles. The Seed may also be collected. dried and used whole or ground. Has been used medically in the past most notably in "Gripe water" to aid babies with wind.
EDIBLE CHRSANTHEMUM (Cresanthemum coronaries / Leucanthemun coronaries)
Also known as Garland chrysanthemum, Japanese-greens, Chop-suey-greens, Crown daisy and Shungkgiku. Popular in Korean and Cantonese cookery the young shoots are added to hot dishes at the last moment to add flavour. Also suitable for use raw it contains many vitamins and minerals, especially Potassium.
HONESTY (Lunaria annua)
Admittedly this is actually a biennial. None the less i am finding it usefull as an ornamental at both ends of the season and as a sacraficial crop to distract some of the Cabbage White caterpillars from my brassicas. I have planted a clump of this so I can sit on the allotment steps with the sun setting behind it and the Chinese lanterns in the autumn.
OPIUM POPPY (Papaver somniferum)
These appeared a few years ago. As they are so pretty I will usually let them self seed a bit before dead heading, the seed heads can be the size of pingpong balls. The next year I leave any that are not competing to hard with the veg.
POACHED EGG PLANT (Limnanthes douglasii)
I allow this to self seed, often it germinates in the autumn , then thin out or transplant as necessary in the spring. It does an excellent job of attracting in lots of benifical insects such as the hoverflies.
RADISH "Munchen Bier"
This radish is grown for the crunchy , spicy seed pods that make a good accompanyment to a bottle to beer or an interesting salad addition. The root may also be eaten. The plant will grow to a meter or more tall and is best to be sown sucessionally.
STRAW FLOWER (Helichrysum)
If you want these for drying, cut them on a sunny day when the outermost row of petals has opened fully. However they are a great source of food for many insects and will flower well in to October.In future i shall see if i can get a patch of these to self sow.
