Into the wild

Some see wildflowers as unwanted, but memoirist Zoë Devlin finds beauty in these unexpected visitors and encourages us to garden with nature, not against it

A green-winged orchid

Zoë Devlin is more than a little obsessed with wildflowers. So much so that she allowed her boss to be ‘taken out’ because of them. Obliged to take part in a team-building paint-balling work day, she was tasked with covering her superior. But she was distracted by her first sighting of an early-purple orchid, giving her opponents an opportunity that they took full advantage of.

She feels a strong connection to wildflowers – ...