Susie’s Garden
Give British butterflies a helping hand with plants that create a wildlife haven all year round – even a single pot will do!
Sitting outside on a summer’s day, it’s a joy to watch butterflies flitting between the flowers bringing colour and movement to my garden. I’ve especially chosen plants that have nectar and pollen for insects and this is the reward.
Yet things can seem gloomy for Britain’s butterflies. We so often hear news of declining numbers, but everyone can do something to help them, even if it is just a window box or a single pot planted with the right choices.
There are 59 species of British butterflies. Any loss in numbers is an indicator of what is happening in the environment. Because they are important in the food chain, the health of birds and other creatures is reliant on them, and they pollinate our plants. They give us pleasure but they are also vital in a wider context.
The charity Butterfly Conservation has produced a short video that shows how to combine plants to provide a long season of food for butterflies. It shows a single pot that could easily go on a
www.myweekly.co.uk balcony if you don’t have a garden. Imagine if everyone did this; there would be a huge network of flowers for butterflies to feed on, like service stations along a motorway. Never use pesticides on plants that are in flower, or best of all, try not to use them at all.
It’s important to choose open single flowers where insects can reach the nectar. Some varieties of plants have been overbred and don’t have any nectar or pollen at all, or there are so many petals that bees and butterflies can’t reach it. When you go to the garden centre, look for the yellow sticker with the RHS Plants for Pollinators logo. There
are loads of colourful flowers to choose from so you can try to have something for each season. You can start with winter heathers, snowdrops and hellebores. Move onto lungworts, cowslips and bugle for spring. Then it’s the turn of catmint, lambs’ ears and herbs like thyme and marjoram in summer, followed by single dahlias, asters, verbena and sedum in autumn. You can make a year round banquet for beautiful butterflies!