Surprise seedlings revealed

I mentioned in my last blog post that I was looking forward to seeing what some unlabelled wildflower seedlings would turn into. Their flowers have finally started opening, confirming my growing suspicion of their identity…

As some of the first wildflowers out in our garden, they have already been attracting some interest. A quick look this morning revealed two beetles and a hoverfly on them all at once.

Some more about cornflowers (information from Plantlife)…

• Alternative names include: “bluebottle, bachelor’s buttons, blue bonnets, brooms and brushes, corn-blinks, ladder love, logger-heads, miller’s delight, pin-cushion, witch bells, witch’s thimble and blavers”
• They are most commonly found on the margins of arable fields.
• They have declined over the past 60 years, with just over 100 long-established sites remaining in Britain in 2005.
• Cornflower frequently contaminated rye and flax crops – loss of these crops and improved seed cleaning, as well as herbicide use, are the main causes of its decline.
• Cornflower’s striking blue-purple heads are visible between June and August and often rise above crops in arable fields on stems up to a metre tall.

Now I’ve watched them grow, I’ll recognise their pale green, bristly narrow leaves, too! Fantastic addition to the garden.