As I’ve never sniffed their flowers, I’m not sure whether the Mignonette plants I see in various locations around Cardiff Bay are Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea) or the escaped and naturalised garden variety Reseda odorata (the latter, a plant that’s more at home in Mediterranean countries, has a musky scent apparently).

Both species are common throughout the UK, in a wide variety of locations – along the edges of railway lines, on areas of waste ground, bordering car parks and garbage tips, around arable fields – in general, anywhere the ground has been disturbed and is mostly dry. You can see in the photos below how well the Mignonette plants are coping with the current drought conditions here in south Wales, compared to most other plants that are shrivelled, crispy and dying.