Cuckoo flower- Cardamine pratensis- takes it’s name from it’s flowering period in April which coincides with the arrival of the first cuckoos. It is also known as Lady’s Smock or Milkmaids. Cuckooflower is a wetland plant most often associated with water meadows in flood plains or boggy moorland and will attract Orange tip butterflies in early spring. It also grows alongside small watercourses and in spring it’s bright lilac flowers can spectacularly bring an old ditch to life. In a wildflower garden, Cuckoo flower can be included around the margins of a pond and will readily set seed once established. It can also be propagated fairly easily. Cuckoo flower looks best growing other spring flowering wetland plants alongside Ragged Robin and Marsh marigolds
CUCKOOFLOWER 1/12 grm (approx 150 seeds)
How to grow Cuckoo flower seeds
Cuckoo flower seeds should be sown in trays of compost in spring or autumn using fresh seed. The trays should be kept moist. Once germinated, the seedlings can be pricked out and grown on, for planting out later in the year. Once established Cuckoo flower plants will self-seed quite readily given the right conditions