A beautiful and popular feature of the countryside, the Flanders Poppy, or Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), is an annual wildflower known for its stunning, vibrant red flowers. They stand atop long, hairy stems, accompanied by pinnately lobed, cut or toothed, and hairy leaves. These delicate flowers showcase four rounded, overlapping, papery petals, typically in brilliant scarlet-red shades but also in pink or white, often displaying a dark basal blotch. Blooming from late spring to early summer, the flowers are followed by ornamental seedpods, extending the season of interest for this captivating plant.

Borage is one of the easiest and most beautiful annual plants in the garden. Native to the Mediterranean region, it is a spreading annual boasting a profusion of open racemes of beautiful, star-shaped, bright blue flowers from early summer to the first frost. The slightly nodding blossoms rise atop stems clad with wrinkled, gray-green, fuzzy leaves.

Cultivated in ancient times for its blue dye, Isatis tinctoria (Dyers Woad) is an upright biennial plant with large terminal clusters of bright golden-yellow flowers in early summer which turn into flattened, lantern-like, dark, decorative seed heads. On dry plants, they remain standing into winter, providing interesting silhouettes in the landscape. The flowers are borne on stalks that are branched at the top and clasped with long, blue-green leaves. Rich in dye, these leaves were collected and dried before being infused with lime water to produce the blue color. It was not only used for clothing but also by Celtic warriors to stain their bodies during battle. Isatis tinctoria was later replaced by indigo.