Country Flowers

Country Flowers was inspired by the book Flora, ten years among the flowers of an endangered landscape, which describes the unique range of flowers growing in seven small fields on the hills above the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire.

Readers of Flora, while enjoying the full sized, lavishly illustrated volume, with its 400 colour photos and detailed context, said they would find a pocket-sized version of the individual flower pages useful to take with them on walks through the Pennine countryside and the hay meadows of West Yorkshire.

Country Flowers has been compiled to contain all the flowers from Flora, expanded to include a wider range of common British wildflowers. Each page carries essential information to help you to identify individual flowers from their key features, including colour photographs, the Latin name, some of the country names, which are often more amusing and descriptive than the official ones, the size and colour of the flower, historical and herbal details, and fascinating facts about each one.

We are all concerned about the loss of natural environments, and the living things we enjoy and want to protect. Little wildflowers, often grow unnoticed on the footpath verges, in hedgerows, field margins, or in the protected flower meadows of our beautiful, increasingly threatened countryside. As well as delighting us with the colours of their blooms, wildflowers support a myriad of animals and insects, flying, hopping, crawling and munching, and helping to pollinate and propagating the flowers of food crops as well as those in the wild.

Like me, you may have found an unfamiliar flower, or one that you recognise, but with a name you can no longer remember! Country Flowers will help your memory for the names you used to know, and introduce you to new varieties.

The plants in Country Flowers have been selected to enhance your enjoyment of walks in the countryside, alone or with your friends and family. Over 100 photographs of individual flowers, taken in their natural surroundings, are accompanied by details of country uses, 'fascinating facts' about their history, and culinary or medicinal uses. The meadows where they grow are endangered habitats, and could be permanently damaged by trampling or picking the flowers, or even walking among them. We must preserve the places where wildflowers grow, so our children and grandchildren can enjoy them too.

Living through a pandemic has made us all appreciate the countryside so much more, and we know that taking time to stop and look in detail at nature can improve both our mental and physical health.

I hope this book will enhance your enjoyment of our sometimes overlooked country flowers.