Wild plants are an intriguing lot. Varying tremendously from the mighty to the minute, the ubiquitious to the downright shy. Some have interesting stories to tell, and a long association with us, as food or medicine or some other practical use. Most are beautiful or charismatic in one way or another. And many, sadly, are in decline due to climate change, adverse land use and habitat loss.
These plants are not only vital components of a healthy environment, upon which we depend, but are also part of our cultural heritage, as much as art, architecture and literature.
Getting to know them can not only enrich our lives but potentially will help to protect them. There are many ways we can engage with wild plants, from welcoming some into our gardens to seeking them out on country walks to simply opening our eyes to their tenacious presence close by in our daily lives. Below are a few of my favourites, whether to forage, to have in the garden for the benefit of wildlife or simply just to see around.
Plant walks & Winter Tree ID - In 2025, I will be running a number of walks, talks & workshops in various locations, in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire & Suffolk. You will details…..
For Winter Tree ID - here
For Summer tree walks - here
Trees
The biggest, most visible type of plant in our landscape, and the ones most deeply embedded in our culture. Our native trees are also the type of plant many of us are most familiar with. Some have been revered for their strength and longevity, others associated with renewal and rebirth and a few with magical powers of protection.
There are about 45 native tree species in the UK, with around half of those fairly common in our countryside. These are a few of my favourites:-
Oak - the most venerated of all our trees. Associated with courage, strength and nobility. Very long lived and profoundly important in ecological terms, being home and habitat to hundreds of other species.
Ash - once also highly venerated, for instance as the ‘World Tree’ in Norse mythology, but more recently reduced to the ‘weed’ tree by farmers. Historically the most useful of all trees.
Yew - perhaps the most powerful presence in pagan tree culture, and our longest lived tree by far. Yew trees have marked the site of religious rituals for thousands of years, and continue to be associated with churchs today.
Hawthorn - a magical tree, also known as the May and associated with the pagan spring festival Beltane, or May Day in more recent times. A tough tree reminiscent of rugged windswept places.
Elder - often more like a large shrub, elder is another small tree once associated with powerful magical properties and much respected by country people. Nowadays, sadly, mostly considered an invasive scruffy nuisance.
Birch - once described by Coleridge as ‘The Lady of the Woods’, this elegant tree is also a tough pioneer species. Being quick to colonise disturbed ground and early to leaf in spring, the birch is associated with with renewal and rebirth.
Beech - Sometimes called the ‘Queen of the Woods’, beech is much less long lived than many other big trees like the oak, and less imbued with a rich folk history. Nonetheless a beech woodland is a beautiful sight.
Holly - One of the few evergreen trees in our landscape, and as such long associated with Yule festivals and representing darkness in Celtic culture. Once an important boundary marker and, surprisingly, winter fodder.
Scots pine - a majestic species of the north that once swept across large tracts of Scotland as part of the Great Caledonian Forest. Only remnants still exist but it remains a significant tree elsewhere in the N. hemisphere.
Sycamore - Not strictly a native species but one introduced in the 1500s, probably from the Balkans. It is now naturalised in the UK and a significant presence in our landscape.
Hazel - Another pioneer species quick to arrive after the last ice age and a tree associated in Celtic culture with wisdom. Once highly prized as a food and building material, now coppice hazel woodlands are important habitats.
Wildflowers
Of the 3,500 wild plant species in the UK, the vast majority are wildflowers - annuals, biennials or perennials.
Many have traditionally been used as medicine or food (see next list), but it is mostly in this incredibly varied group of plants that you will, if you look closely enough, be captivated by the seemingly endless range of exquisite beauty that exists in plants.
With so many to choose from it seems faintly ridiculous to list just 10 or 12 here. So I have stuck to a few familiars that I meet regularly on my local walk - plants that maintain a certain magic even though they are common as:-
Cow parsley
Comfrey
Green Alkanet
Common Hogweed
Scabious
Knapweed
Field geranium
White deadnettle
Water avens
Old Man’s beard
Lesser celandine
Oxeye daisy
Dandelion
Bladder campion
Foraging
On the face of it, foraging is about collecting wild food from the countryside. But as a way to feed yourself it is unlikely to contribute a huge amount.
It might add some beneficial nutrients and, perhaps more importantly, increase variety, which a healthy gut microbiome needs.
But the main point is slowing down, taking notice and connecting. Not only with nature in general and plants in particular, but also with a practice deeply rooted in us, which has only faded from human life in the last few generations.
There are dozens of plants that have something to offer the forager. Here are a few common species that are relatively easy to identify and mostly don’t have any dangerous lookalikes. The main rules of foraging to remember are 1) only consume something if you are 100% certain what it is, and have researched how to prepare it, 2) Only forage on publicly accessible land, and even then beware local byelaws and never dig for roots, and 3) Always forage sensitively and responsibly - taking only a small proportion of what you find and never more than you need.
Common Sorrel
Wild garlic
Lime tree (Tilia) leaves
Elder - flowers & berries
Yarrow
Nettle seeds
Beech nuts
Blackberries
Sloes and bullace
Hawthorn (haws)
Rosehips
Crabapples
Worthy weeds
The idea of ‘garden-worthy’ plants is one that has been propagated to promote only the tame, selected and well-bred. Which has mostly and latterly meant the exclusion of wildflowers, and certainly ‘weeds’.
But I like to keep the garden gate open to a few, at least, of these.
There are some reasons why this might be a good idea. Not least that many native insects that go through a larval stage (e.g. butterflies & moths) have evolved to feed off the foliage of very specific wild plants. Their flowers can also add valuable forage for pollinators and a degree of resilience that comes with most plants that choose their own spot.
For some ‘weeds’, once you have got to know then, it is possible to reach an arrangement satisfactory to all parties. Here are few that add a dynamic, but not overwhelming, presence n my garden:-
Herb robert
Foxgloves
Knapweed
Red campion
Wild sorrel
Field geranium
Nettles (admittedly behind the shed)
Yellow rattle (rough grass area)
Clover (lawn)
Bugle (lawn)
Daisy (lawn)
Buttercup (lawn)