Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) is a good example of why wildflowers and weeds are the same thing. It grows in grassland (mainly in East Anglia in this country) but is reported to be toxic to grazing animals.
  That's not really an issue here in New Cross Gate so I've planted a scattering of bulbs in the lawn and they look nice- the starry flowers unfurl and open up when the sun shines on them. I don't cut the grass till mid-summer which gives them the opportunity to bloom. 

 I posted a murky photo of Ramsons (Allium ursinum) aka Wild Garlic in my entry concerning woodland wildflowers on 12th. April. They thrive in full and partial shade in damp soil but here is a clearer image.
 These were purchased as bulbs and I have them growing outside the kitchen door. Appropriately the leaves and flowers do add a strong garlicky taste when used as an ingredient. Then again I see some veined/marbled leaves of Arum italicum growing among them which are toxic so the moral of the tale is: be careful what you pick!

 Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea). Another lovely spring wildflower. This plant is a spreader laying out a mass of little white flowers on low growing foliage which has a fresh, grassy look to it.
 I planted several plugs of it a few years ago in a shady border (see top photo) and it has proved ideally suited to covering the bare ground, weaving round other plants as it steadily increases.
 The other two photos show S. holostea in its natural habitat which is the hedgerow and woodland edge. In this instance I spotted it growing along a perimeter fence at Butcher's Wood in West Sussex.

 These English Irises (Iris latifolia) lend a splash of colour to the proceedings. Their natural habitat is the Pyrenees so English they are not. They grow well enough here that somewhere in time we claimed them as our own.
 Irrespective of their origins some flowers viewed close up seem to be "not of this world" and this is true of the English Iris I think.

 Bees love comfrey as mentioned in a previous entry. I saw this patch of Symphytum orientale in a churchyard at the weekend and bumblebees were all over it.

 I took a walk along a section of the River Loddon in Berkshire on Saturday. This is the most noted natural habitat of the Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum). There are other locations in southern England where it appears but for some reason it flourishes here more than anywhere else, so much so that writings about the plant mention that it has the colloquial name "Loddon Lilly".
 As I walked beside the river I saw the occasional clump by the water's edge. Then I came to a section where the margins of the river become more marshy and overgrown. I spotted a few patches in among the tangle of undergrowth.
 A chap walking past saw my camera and asked if I'd seen anything; he assumed I was a birdwatcher. Judging by his accent I would think he was a local born and bred. I said I was taking photographs of a particular plant, the Summer Snowflake. He looked blank so I added it looks a bit like a giant snowdrop. He replied "Oh, you mean Loddon Lilly" and pointed me in the direction of a turning up ahead where he reckoned there might be loads of them if previous years were anything to go by.
 Sure enough thousands of Loddon Lillies carpeted a swathe of damp scrub and woodland.
  

 Surely one of the greatest sights in all England. Thousands upon thousands of Snake's Head Fritillaries (Fritllaria meleagris) bloom in April in the water meadows of Magdalen College, Oxford.
 They might well be ancient and indigenous to this location. Then again Richard Mabey speculates in his book Flora Britannica that they could have been an introduction from another large colony in Cricklade, Wiltshire in the 18th. century.
 We'll probably never know for sure but clearly the conditions suit them to grow in such numbers.  

 More apple blossom. The tree is actually in next door's garden but mainly leans over the fence onto this side! We can share the wealth in autumn.

 April is the month for woodland wildflowers. They take advantage of the spring sunlight that filters through the bare trees before the canopy of new leaves casts the woodland floor into deeper shade.
 Unfortunately I've had very little free time recently so I haven't had the opportunity to wander off into the woods- I hope to rectify that situation over the Easter weekend. In the meantime I've been looking at some photographs from previous years and walking some of those paths in my mind. From the top here are some of the flora endemic to such places:
 Lesser Celendine (Ranunculus ficaria) covers the ground in sunny woodland clearings and in fact is very common all over the place- gardens, verges, wasteground etc. The photo above was taken in Butcher's Wood, a survival of ancient woodland at the foot of the South Downs near Hassocks.
 Wood Anemone (Anemone nemerosa) is a good example of the fact that many wildflowers have a symbiotic relationship with human activities. It does indeed flourish in woods but it likes some sun too so coppiced woods are an ideal habitat. This photo was taken in Spuckles and Kenneling Wood in Kent which is clearly a coppiced wood of old and A. nemerosa still thrives on the more open margins.
 I visited this wood because it has the colloquial name "Wilderness Down". It would have acquired that description centuries ago I'm sure but it sits on the High Weald and on a hazy day the Kentish landscape receding into the distance still seems remote from the teeming masses.
 Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are the archetypal wildflower that carpets many of our historic woods and forests. Those above were photographed in a wood on the chalk hills overlooking the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire. These rolling hills retain pockets of ancient woodland. As I approached I thought for a moment that my eyes were playing tricks on me because there seemed to be a blue glow ahead. Then I realised I was about to enter a sea of bluebells spilling out from the edge of the trees.
 The scent was sweet, almost sickly but as I walked through the wood the other half of it was dominated by Ramsons (Allium ursinium), also known as wild garlic- smelling very pungent. It was almost like a battle; half the wood was held by the Bluebells, the other half by Ramsons. They met in the middle and fought each other to a standstill.
 The smell of Ramsons always recalls a walk I've done numerous times since childhood following the River Lym out of Lyme Regis to Uplyme a mile or two away. This densely wooded riverrun is thick with Ramsons and the air reeks of garlic. As the photo indicates they can grow in even the deepest shade.
 I realised recently that this walk is in fact the start (or the end) of the ancient ridgeway that ran from Lyme on the Dorset coast to the North Norfolk coast as far back as neolithic times.

 Sweet Woodruff (Gallium odoratum) is delightful when it appears in shady spots in spring. The starry white flowers top the whorls of emerald leaves and it can carpet large areas, though it has formed only a small patch here in the garden.
 John Gerard mentions it in his Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes published in 1597. He says "It is reported to be put into wine, to make a man merry".

 Is there a fresher sight than apple blossom on a spring morning?

 Comfreys are great plants to have in the garden. Bees love the flowers on all Symphytum species and they have the reputation for being "dynamic accumulators" i.e. especially effective in processing nutrients and minerals from the soil and releasing them back into the ground when the plant dies back.
 Symphytum orientale (pictured) is perhaps the most elegant with pure white flowers. I divided some clumps from my father's garden and planted them under the apple tree where they might be beneficial as a green manure.
 Elsewhere I've planted Symphytum Hidcote (white flowers tinged with blue or pink) and Symphytum grandiflorum aka Creeping Comfrey (white flowers with a creamy yellow tint). Both of these are lower growing and make good groundcover. Some books list comfrey among the weeds but it's way too good for that.  

 Red Campion (Silene dioica) is a common wildflower. At this time of year it flourishes in hedgerows, along woodland paths and edges and on uncultivated or derelict agricultural land.
 In this particular case however it is growing in a pot by the bins at the front of the house. 

 Water Avens (Geum rivale). This is a riverside plant; it can take a bit of shade but it needs a damp spot. I grow it in an old zinc wash tub to retain some moisture in the soil with a few holes drilled in the bottom so it doesn't get too swampy. Big bumblebees favour the nodding flowers which nod even more as the stalks bend with the weight of the bee as it clings upside down to get at the nectar.

 Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens). This plant grows all over London. Where one grows more will follow and many gardeners regard it as a weed though I don't.
 I was asked about it when I took part in an event yesterday in my neighbourhood entitled "Greening the Hill" (referring to the Telegraph Hill district in south London). It included a gardeners question time type session and I was one of the "experts" taking questions on the stage! I haven't done something like that before- it went fine if a little nerve wracking to find myself talking in front of an audience.
 What I said about Green Alkanet is that if it was rare people would pay money for it. The forget-me-not like flowers are small but show in profusion for months over the verdant foliage and it's a top bee plant. The trouble is it isn't rare.
 On the contrary it spreads vigorously with deep tap roots that make it hard to eradicate. If you pull one up and a bit of the root remains another plant will grow from it. The point I went on to make is that if you look at a list of UK wildflowers and a list of UK weeds it's basically the same list. So one person's weed is another person's wildflower.
 I saw this plant's invasive qualities used to stunning effect in Kew Gardens a year or two back. It had been allowed (and I think encouraged) to spread along a lengthy section of the perimeter wall with another plant that multiplies rapidly: Symphytum orientale, a comfrey with pure white flowers about the same size as the blue flowers of P. sempervirens. The foliage of both is rather similar too so the greenery provided the setting for an extraordinary haze of blue and white shimmering in the sun.