Lotus corniculatus (Bird’s Foot Trefoil), 2 x 1 litre plants

Description

Lotus corniculatus, more commonly known as Bird’s Foot Trefoil, is a lovely little native perennial wildflower that is found regularly in meadows, grassy and coastal areas across the UK. We find it a really jolly little plant that works beautifully naturalised in grass or in wildflower areas, and is particularly good for wildlife, being a favoured food source for caterpillars, including those of the Common Blue and Six-Spot Burnet butterflies. It has a lax habit and tends to scramble through taller growing plants around it, which makes it all the more of a sight, in our view, when the butter-yellow pea flowers pop out in summer (the flowers fade to reddish-orange later, hence it’s other popular name, the Eggs and Bacon plant) and carpet the ground around. Like other pea-family plants, it has nitrogen-fixing nodes which helps to feed the soil and other plants around it as it dies back in winter.

These established plants have been grown in peat-free compost at our nursery in Cornwall and are supplied in one-litre containers (the price is for two of these plants). They will grow to an ultimate height of about 20cm and will slowly spread out to around 50cm or so.