GIVE NATURE A HAND
Make the best of the present time to create a new habitat
COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on people, causing misery, hardship and grief. The lockdown, a global government-inspired instruction to stay at home where possible, has had another effect.
It seems strange to talk of benefits, but our planet is enjoying a moment to breathe for the first time in living memory.
Yes, factories still produce our necessities but a great amount of travel and manufacturing has been shut down. A byproduct of this is that, in the main, planes aren’t flying and trains, ferries, cruise liners and car traffic are all greatly reduced. Coinciding with lockdown we’ve also had one of the most glorious springs. There is a stillness around which allows us to hear the birds and take time to see the bees.
It has many of us thinking that there may be ways of intervening to help nature.
If we begin to plan now, perhaps we can build on the benefits of lockdown to plant and create habitats for beyond this crisis.
There are a number of wildlifefriendly plants that we don’t normally put into gardens which have much to offer. For example, the teasel Dipsacus is a dramatic architectural specimen. It’s a biennial so in its first year it forms a prickly rosette of leaves. The following summer it shoots up tall stems bearing bristly purple cones of flowers. These flower heads used to be employed by textile makers to comb or “tease” cloth, hence its common name.
Bees and butterflies love its nectar in summer while finches feast on the winter seed. If you don’t cut it down it retains an interesting silhouette in winter. It will self-seed and establish itself around the garden.
One of the first shrubs to flower in the hedgerow in spring is the blackthorn Prunus spinosa.
The flush of white flowers on bare stems is always a welcome sight to both ourselves and the bees who appreciate its early nectar. The dense thickets provide good nesting cover for birds too.
In autumn, the rich berries, called sloe, have traditionally been collected to make sloe gin – that’s if the birds haven’t devoured them already. It’s a tough native shrub that will thrive in many soils and is a good choice for exposed, coastal areas.