When buying bulbs, make sure
they have not been taken from the wild.
It’s illegal to dig up any wild
plant without the landowner’s permission.
Try to buy native trees and
shrubs which have been grown locally.
Avoid double varieties of
flowers - these are less valuable for insects.
Hedges of native trees and
shrubs provide shelter for wildlife throughout the year.
Try underplanting your hedge
with native bulbs; but buy them from cultivated sources.
Never discard unwanted garden
pond plants - or any garden plant - into the wild.
Allow plants to go to seed and
provide food and shelter for wildlife in the winter.
Collect fritillary seed from
splitting seed pods. Scatter across compost and cover in quarter of an
inch of sand. Left in the garden in a quiet spot it will germinate in
the spring. Pot up small bulbs after two years and grow on in pots or in
the lawn. They should flower after 4-5 years giving a stunning display.
Avoid Spanish bluebells if
native bluebells are in the area: they hybridise.
When sowing wild flowers try to
use local stocks.
Snapdragons and foxgloves are
good plants for bumblebees.
When you visit the garden
centre, choose plants which are obviously attracting bees there.
If you grow primroses and other
wildflowers, try to avoid disturbing the soil around them - it increases
the chances of their seedlings appearing.
Try these colourful wildflowers
for borders - ladies smock, devil’s bit scabious, greater knapweed and
dyer’s greenweed.
Leave your sunflowers, cosmos
and lavender to set seed: goldfinches love them!
After ladies smocks have
flowered, don’t cut back the stems - they may be used by orange tip
butterflies.
If a tree is getting too big for
your garden consider pollarding or coppicing it. Add the dead wood to a
log pile.
Even Leylandii cypress (in
moderation!) has its value: dunnocks nest in the dense foliage and
Blair’s shoulder-knot moth eats it.
Single-flowered cultivars of
garden plants like Kerria and rose provide more nectar and pollen than
the multi-petalled forms.
Ivy is fundamental to garden
biodiversity, providing abundant shelter and late-season nectar and
berries.
The bark of sycamores supports
more types of lichen than any other tree.
Say ‘no’ to mop-heads - they are
sterile! Only lace-cap hydrangeas and guelder rose will provide pollen
and nectar.
Work with nature to save water.
In a dry garden, grow useful and attractive drought-tolerant plants like
geraniums and stonecrops.
Check out the Flora Locale
website for a source of locally sourced plants near you.
If you have a verge outside your
house, ask the local council if you can plant it with a few native
trees: buy these very cheaply as whips and they won’t need staking.
Primroses will set seed very
easily in lawns: remove the seedlings and grow them on in pots.
Put inverted jam jars over young
plants at night to protect them from slugs. But remember to remove them
in the morning!
