Meadows and MedicineWild West Yorkshire nature diary, Friday 18th June 1999
Towers of Foxgloves look effective at the back of the border. They had seeded themselves all over but we transplanted them in the spring when they were still saucer-sized rosettes of leaves. Like the poppies, these have powerful medicinal properties. The poison Digitalis produced by the plant slows down the heart beat. This chemical defence enables them to grow close to rabbit warrens, and to survive the attentions of the rabbits that visit our back garden.
Our Dog Daisies were originally planted as part of a wildflower seed mix in what we intended to be a meadow area. They have since seeded themselves on vegetable beds and in our border.
Do-it-yourself Wildflower MeadowsWE FOUND we couldn't get a real meadow going in an area not much bigger than a king-size bed. It looked good in the first two summers when a mass of Dog Daisies followed the Fritillaries and Snowdrops of the spring. To give the seeds a chance to set we mowed it only once a year, in late summer. But, because this is rich garden soil, the real meadow wildflowers have been out-competed by ranker, wayside species, such as nettle, thistle and hogweed. In fact our 'meadow' now looks just like the neglected pasture on the other side of the hedge.
Richard Bell, 
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A WEEK IN THE GARDEN, especially in summer, is a long time. Since we went away, Himalayan Poppies have put out Art Nouveau-style mauve and pink flowers (by the way, this far north they don't produce opium).
Despite it's delicious summer evening honey fragrance, Honeysuckle is poisonous. Medicinally it has been used against snakebites and as a contraceptive.
The hens gave it a good scratching in the spring which only helped turn it into disturbed ground and encouraged the thistles and nettles to spread. But even without the intervention of these rooster rotivators it wouldn't have resembled a traditional hay meadow.