Unknown and ignored, some of Britain's most exotic wildflowers are reaching their peak of blooming – our native orchids. These are wacky flowers with names to match – the lizard, lady, monkey or bee – and they dress up in outlandish costumes with strong perfume to fool insects into mating with them (that way the flowers get pollinated and the insects get a cheap thrill).
The common spotted orchids, splashed with purple and white freckles, can be found on grasslands, road verges and even derelict industrial sites with alkaline waste. Alongside them, look out for the bee orchid, with its furry lower petal. And by the end of the month the pyramidal orchid will be flowering, with its tiny deep purple flowers arranged in dense pyramids.
After years of near extinction, many of our orchids are making a comeback. The ghost orchid hadn't been seen for 28 years, but last year a single plant was rediscovered in Herefordshire. Then the Lady's slipper orchid, reduced to one specimen guarded 24 hours a day during its flowering season, came back from the brink after Kew Gardens coaxed its reluctant seeds into germinating in test tubes using a feeding formula for premature babies. They have flowered, in secret, wild locations. And in one revival that caught botanists by surprise, the lizard orchid burst out from its refuge on the golf course at Royal St George's in Kent and spread to other courses across southern England, its seeds hitching a ride on golfers' shoes.
