Spring sparkle

Wildflowers of the Yorkshire Dales

Cuckoo Flower

The pale pink cuckoo flower, also known as lady’s smock, is common in damp meadows and blooms profusely from April through to June.

Mountain Pansy

Yellow, purple or a combination of both colours, the mountain pansy is the largest of our native violets. It thrives on lime-rich, closegrazed Pennine grassland.

Early Purple Orchid

The vibrant magenta, richly scented early purple orchid grows in unimproved hay meadows, hedgerows and ancient woodland.

Sea Thrift

Sea thrift is primarily a maritime plant, but it also flourishes on riverside shingle at Ballowfields

Nature Reserve near Carperby.

Herb Paris

This distinctive plant, steeped in folklore, favours damp, shady spots in ancient woodlands like Freeholders Wood near Aysgarth.

Bird Cherry

Bird cherry is a gorgeously perfumed showstopper of a small tree found in damp woodlands up and down the Dales.

Primrose

Primroses are the quintessential flower of springtime, although in mild years they can start blooming as early as December.

Globe Flower

This elegant lemonyellow member of the buttercup family thrives in damp flushes in the higher reaches of the Dales.

Wild Daffodil

The increasingly rare wild daffodil can be found in isolated spots in the Dales – and, famously, in Farndale on the North York Moors.

Water Avens

The gently nodding water avens is common in shady spots alongside the Swale, Ure and Nidd.

Make this the year you raise your veg-growing game, says Adam Appleyard