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READ MORE ARTICLES....
How to Create a Wildlife Friendly Garden - BBC Easy
Gardening
Growing the 10
Best Plants for Wildlife in your Garden - BBC Gardens Illustrated
A Flavour
of April in your Wildlife Friendly Garden - Country and Border Life
The Rural Craft
of Hedgelaying in Dorset - The Countryman
Managing your
Garden in October - Country and Border Life
The Historic
Welsh Gardens of Plas Tan y Bwlch - The Countryman
Looking after
the Bees in your Garden - Daily Express
Making Wildlife
Ponds the Easy Way - Daily Express
Wings over
Mull - a Centre for Birds of Prey - The Countryman
A New Garden for
Wildlife with Butterflies in Mind - Butterfly Conservation
The
Wildlife Art of Ian and Richard Lewington - Limited
Edition Magazine
'I went to
Noke and Nobody Spoke' - Fascinating Otmoor - Limited Edition
Magazine
Gardening on the
Wild Side of Town - New Consumer Magazine
Peter
Parks and the Great Rainforest Project - Limited Edition Magazine
The Countryside in January - Limited Edition
Magazine
The Countryside in May - Limited Edition
Magazine
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Jenny to find out more about her freelance writing
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GROWING
THE 10 BEST PLANTS FOR WILDLIFE IN YOUR GARDEN
Wildlife friendly
gardening has never been more popular and long gone are the days when the
phrase ‘wildlife garden’ conjured up visions of straggly grass, scruffy
ponds and overgrown hedges. Wildlife gardens are beautiful, vibrant,
fascinating places, well stocked with colourful, interesting plants. And
their added bonus is that they are absolutely full of life.
Any garden will
support nature and there are many ways to encourage wildlife within your
existing garden framework without a total makeover or designating a patch
as a bird or bee haven. A few tweaks in your maintenance regime, a
rethink on the management of your pond or lawn and the deliberate
inclusion of some plants with proven wildlife attracting ability, can
together make a huge difference to the wildlife friendly nature of even
the smallest town garden.
The
most positive action any gardener can take is to add some wildlife
super-plants to existing borders, ponds or containers so go for maximum
impact – multipurpose plants with nectar, pollen, seeds or berries. A
mixture of native and non native is best as long as they are plants with
known wildlife attracting credentials. Create shelter for insects, small
mammals and birds where you can by planting closely and keep hedges,
climbers and shrubs thick and dense. Leave borders untouched in autumn
for a frosty winter display, cutting back herbaceous plants in spring.
Lastly cultivate a totally pesticide free garden for maximum wildlife
friendliness.
Native Wildflowers
Wild Marjoram – Origanum vulgare
Best known as a
wildflower for the smaller butterfly species that are less inclined to
visit larger, more gaudy blossoms, wild marjoram has clusters of tiny,
scented pink flowers which attract a range of insects. This is our native
version of the Mediterranean herb oregano and serves just as well in pasta
dishes as its slightly more flavoursome Greek cousin. With a height and
spread of 50cms, it is perfect for a sunny corner in a terracotta pot to
attract butterflies, honeybees and bumblebees in late summer.
Field Scabious - Knautia arvensis
The mauve buttons of
field scabious, waving on slender branched stems, are always covered with
butterflies, bees and hoverflies. It blooms throughout summer and well
into autumn although the flowers get progressively smaller. Field
scabious is equally at home in a border or rough grass and is especially
attractive to small tortoiseshell butterflies and the vibrant black and
red day-flying burnet moth. Best grown amongst other plants or grasses
for support, it is valuable in late summer, reaching a height of 80cms and
spread of 40cms.
Teasel – Dipsacus fullonum
Few plants, other
than berried shrubs, bring birds flocking to the garden but teasel is one
of those special species. At its sculptural best when covered in frost in
winter, this biennial wildflower attracts goldfinches to the nutritious
seeds. It is also an excellent pollen and nectar provider for insects in
the summer, including hoverflies, peacock butterflies and many species of
bumblebee. Teasels can reach a height of 2 meters so are best grown at
the back of a border for maximum impact.
Greater Knapweed – Centaurea scabiosa
Greater knapweed is
naturally a native meadow flower and will happily grow in long, rough
grass but it can be especially effective in prairie style plantings.
Sturdy and upright, its bright pinky purple flowers attract a range of
insects including many native bumblebees and butterflies including the
common blue and marbled white. Small tortoiseshells also love this
plant. Expect a spread and height of 60cms and flowers from June through
to September or October.
Goat Willow – Salix capraea
If you have room for
just one wildlife attracting shrub in your garden the goat or pussy willow
is for you. The early flowers - polleny blobs of fluffy yellow - are a
springtime delight and provide valuable sustenance for queen bees newly
out of hibernation. Over 250 different species of invertebrates are
associated with this plant. These include a huge variety of insect
larvae, especially the caterpillars of beautiful moths such as the pebble
prominent, puss moth and feathered thorn. The copious pollen feeds
honeybees and bumblebees and nectar tempts spring peacock butterflies.
Pussy willow grows to 8 meters or more but can be cut to the ground every
two or three years to restrict its growth.
Non-Natives
Verbena bonariensis
Many plants have a period when they are in fashion and Verbena bonariensis
is still having its day. Rightly so, for it is a plant that has
everything a gardener could want – the bright purple flowers last well
into late summer and the sturdy, branched stems have a wonderful
architectural quality. It is also adored by our native insects giving us
the perfect reason to include this non native in our gardens. Nectar
fills the clusters of long-tubed flowers, enticing bees and butterflies,
while the pollen is collected by honeybees, bumblebees and hoverflies.
Height 2 meters and spread 60cms.
Digitalis ferruginea
All foxgloves including our familiar pink wildflower are wonderful
wildlife attracting plants but this non native is exceptional. Tall
spikes of rusty-buff coloured flowers are covered in the smaller bumblebee
species throughout the summer, and the plant spikes persist into colder
weather to provide an interesting addition to a wintry frost-covered
border. This is a mid or back of the border plant for sun or semi-shade,
and the larger variety called gigantea, can reach a height of 2 meters.
Phacelia tanacetifolia
If you are new to encouraging wildlife to your garden, a quick and easy
project is to sow insect friendly annuals in the spaces between existing
plants. Phacelia is usually grown as a green manure, but if left to
flower it is one of the best bee plants available. Other insects like it
too, including the pretty day flying moth, the Silver Y, and many types of
hoverfly. As an annual phacelia will seed around, but not to the extent
where it can’t be easily pulled out. This pretty plant with its fluffy
pale mauve flowers that unfurl through the season, will soon became a
space-filling favourite in a sunny spot. Flowering from early summer,
phacelia has a height and spread of about 50cms.
Buddleia Lochinch
All Buddleia
species and varieties, of which there are many, are well known butterfly
magnets, yet these plants only attract the larger species of our British
butterflies. To provide nectar for red admiral, small tortoiseshell,
peacock, comma, painted lady and the ‘cabbage’ whites, you can do no
better than Buddleia. However look out for the Lochinch variety which is
a hybrid between B. davidii and B. fallowiana. Its pale, felted leaves
are attractive throughout the year and the sweetly honey-scented flowers
are pale mauve. Like all Buddleias it should be cut down in late winter
to encourage flowering and can reach 3 meters in a season.
Hebe Midsummer Beauty
Midsummer Beauty is a slight misnomer for this excellent evergreen shrub
as it often has flowers in the middle of winter. The racemes of purple
flowers appear in June but continue for months afterwards, slowly fading
to white but still attracting bees and the larger butterflies. Hebes can
be fickle in their hardiness but this one copes well with most conditions,
its evergreen foliage and attractive shape creating interest all year
round. A mature plant can reach a height of 2 meters and a spread of a
little less.
© Copyright Jenny Steel
2017 |
