Everyone by now knows the value of Bees, Hoverflies, Butterflies and other pollinating insects in ensuring fruit crops produce the fruit we need to sustain human life on the planet. While not everyone (yet) truly values bees and these other vital pollinators, those in the know want to do their best to help secure their future in an ever-changing and often insect-unfriendly world. One way we can help is to reduce our use of potentially harmful and insecticidal chemicals. Another is to include some plants in our gardens that are both great for us and equally great for these glorious insects.
Here are plants we think would be a great selection for your garden and for attracting Bees and other pollinators:
- HEBE ‘MIDSUMMER BEAUTY’
Not just one of the best insect attracting shrubs for the temperate garden, but this is one of the all-time greats. A larger shrub to 1.8m (6′) and generally wider, this sun-loving plant produces 20cm (8″) long racemes of flowers through summer. It is evergreen with young foliage being pleasantly purple-tinged. Like all Hebe, it dislikes winter wet and it is often a little weaker and less fulsome for the first couple of seasons after planting. This will sort out in time and in a favourable spot, this is a hugely impressive plant and can even be grown as an informal hedge.
- BUDDLEJA DAVIDII ‘WHITE PROFUSION’
Buddleja aren’t called Butterfly bushes for nothing! Large plants can often have hundreds of visits each day from Butterflies, Bees, Hoverflies, Day-flying Moths and more. Even at night, Moths, who are arguably the real unsung heroes of plant pollination will visit Buddlejas for nectar. Buddleja davidii ‘White Profusion’ is just one good variety and in a garden will be a popular nectar spot. It is also readily available to buy. If space is of a premium, much of the newer varieties have been bred to be more compact, so look out for any variety with ‘Nanho’ in the name, or plants from the Candy Lila and Candy Little series, as well as the Flutterby series, plus others, all of which are compact and lower growing than older varieties. The only downside to white flowered Buddleja, like many white flowered plants, is that as each flower goes over, it turns noticeably brown. If you can’t take that, there are Pink, Purple, Blue and almost Red forms available, where this colour change is less noticeable. Plant in full sun and in well-drained soil for best growth. Buddleja do very well on really quite poor soil and are commonly seen growing out of cracks in the brickwork of abandoned building, derelict sites and wasteland. A true survivor. Pruning the Buddleja does help to maintain size and shape which is also worth the experiment.
- BERBERIS DARWINII
Darwin’s Barberry is one of the most striking shrubs of Spring. The purity and intensity of the orange coloured flowers, red peduncle and pedicels (flower stalks) and glossy, deep-green, spikey foliage all stand out making this easy to identify and a delight to behold. Full disclosure, these flowers are really rather small at only 5mm (1/5 of an inch), but are produced in abundance over the plant and are a great source of early shrubby nectar for insects on the wing in March/April. The spiny leaves and thorns on the stems make it a useful boundary plant, or one for under ground-floor windowsills to beef up home security. Grows well in sun or shade, but if find it at its most striking in light shade, where it appears to glow, even on dull days. It will grow to around 1.5m (5′) tall and perhaps a little bit wider. After flowers, fruit is formed ripening over the summer. Birds and mammals in the garden will eat these in autumn, making it doubly wildlife friendly.
- CHAENOMELES JAPONICA ‘PINK LADY’
The Flowering Quince is native to eastern Asia in Japan, China and Korea and is related to the Quince. It forms a rounded, bushy shrub with erect and spreading, spiny branches. It loses its leaves in winter and produces beautiful clusters of red, pink, apricot or white blossoms close to the bare stems in mid-winter, for up to six weeks. The flowers are followed by small quince-like fruits in summer. The fruits are not ornamental but have high pectin content and may be used for jelly.
The shrubs send up suckers from below ground level; spreading out on a continuous basis, forming large woody-stemmed clumps. The branches and branchlets are all tipped with sharp spines, making it ideal to grow as a security hedge, especially in the coldest parts of the country.
This shrub is very hardy to frost and grows well throughout the country, except those very hot and humid regions. Water it regularly in summer during dry spells, especially in the winter rainfall regions. Plant it in a sunny position, in fertile soil and apply a dressing of bone meal in spring. This shrub will grow about 2.5m tall and 2m wide in ten years but can reach 3.5m tall and 2.5m wide at maturity. Prune it when it has finished flowering to keep it tidy.
Propagate from soft tip cuttings in summer.
- ABELIA X GRANDIFLORA
Another favourite shrub and for good reason! Flowers are produced in abundance, reliably between April and October and I have seen plants in very sheltered spots that just forgot to stop for winter. It is semi-evergreen and pretty hardy; this means that in cold winters or exposed spots, it will lose between some and a lot of leaves. The more sheltered the spot, the better the performance, so it is worth seeking out a warm spot, away from frost pockets and exposure to the wind if at all possible. One thing it will not tolerate is sitting in water, so ensure your soil has reasonable drainage. If you can provide this you will get a fantastic plant with arching brown stems, glossy green leaves, palest pink, witches-hat-shaped flowers and the wonderful reddish calyxes. When not in flower, these calyxes persist giving the appearing of flower and extra interest. Often an ugly duckling young plant sitting lop-sided in a pot on a nursery, it takes a couple of years until you get the long stems forming and the fountain-like arching form. It can be clipped to mound shapes, trained against walls and even roughly shaped with a hedge-trimmer. It seems happy enough with all of these techniques, or none at all. If you want to get an arching shape, remove whole stems with secateurs rather than trim the plant all over, which seems to change the way in which it chooses to grow. Height of up to 1.5m (5′) as a freestanding shrub, and seems to be capable of a good bit more. Normally wider than it is tall. Lots of decent variegated forms available now, though most are smaller plants. It is indeed a beautiful hybrid species. Bees in particular can be watched dipping into each flower as they do on Foxgloves, happily gathering and transferring pollen, while searching for nectar.
Happy Gardening
