Alys Fowler: thistles

I remember one summer my mother filled a corner of our yard with Scotch thistles, Onopordum acanthium. They towered above me, ghostly white branching stems and fiendishly prickly leaves, and by late summer crowned in large pale purple flowers, heavy with bees. It was a bold statement.

Scotch thistles are formidable, reaching up to three metres tall and one metre wide. They like fertile, moist but free-draining soil and love the sun. In winter the seedheads act as natural bird feeders (goldfinch in particular flock to them), and what the birds leave behind becomes the next generation of plants.

Another lovely thistle that's not quite so demanding on space is our native Cirsium heterophyllum, or the melancholy thistle. This perennial divides the country: in the north you'll see plenty of it; any lower than the Black Country and it becomes a rarity.

It gets its common name because it is supposed to cure sadness. Nicholas Culpeper said, "It makes a man as merry as a cricket." It's true: the sight of fields of bright purple pompom flowers floating above the soft, spineless, hairy leaves and stems (it looks as if it has been coated in cotton wool) is utterly cheering. It grows 45-120cm high, flowers from July into August and likes damp, cool conditions. It is best sown in autumn and you can get seed from Chiltern Seeds or if you want a meadow-full, try Emorsgate Seeds. Both thistles are wild; barely tameable, they will self-seed where they please. I like their unfettered nature, but they look best growing in meadows and natural settings.

A halfway house for smaller gardens is perhaps the brook thistle, Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum'. This was once the mainstay of every Chelsea garden; tainted by fashion, it has slightly fallen by the wayside, but shouldn't be dismissed. It starts flowering early, April if warm. The dark, wine-red flowers are magnets for bees and it's that rare thing – rabbit-proof. It grows a metre or so high and if happy will expand. If your space is limited, be ruthless and divide regularly in autumn, composting the extras. It looks lovely with plum-coloured oriental poppies, deep, dark astrantia or salvias. Once it's finished in autumn, chop it back and wait for spring.

Finally, a cultivated thistle that is wildly underplanted is Cirsium japonicum. It is used as a cut flower plant in Japan and is mostly sold as cultivars bred for this reason. They last well in the vase and are delightfully fluffy, like powder puffs, often in pale pinks, such as 'Early Pink Beauty'. Although it is a perennial, it will reliably flower in the first year and grows to 60-90cm high. Sow as late as April to cut in September.