Top tips to make your garden gorgeous while helping wildlife too
WITH garden show season almost upon us, four experts who will be creating gardens and offering inspiration at various shows this year, offer top tips to get gardens looking their best while making sure wildlife is well looked after too.
BBC GARDENERS’ WORLD PRESENTER ADAM FROST
MAKE sure bird baths are clean and topped up with water for birds to drink and bathe in. If you have a pond or deeper water feature, make sure there’s a shallow area to make it easier for frogs and other wildlife to get in and out of.
GARDENING EXPERT MARTIN FISH
IF raking your lawn to remove a build-up of moss, leave some of the dry moss in an area of the garden so that birds can collect it for nest building.
DESIGNER AND RHS AMBASSADOR JAMIE BUTTERWORTH
WILDLIFE-FRIENDLY planting can be anywhere, on a balcony, windowsill or in pots.
Containers lend themselves just as well to pollinatorfriendly plants such as Centaurea cyanus ‘Black Boy’, Daucus carota and Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’ and they’ll look spectacular too.
GARDEN DESIGNER PAUL HERVEY-BROOKES
POT on and feed containerised hostas and agapanthus for better foliage and flowers. Bees and insects will love them.
Weed the majority of baby weed seedlings out now and reap the benefits of a summer free of weeding. But be sure to leave a few to go wild in an area where they will bother you least. Butterflies, bees and birds will thank you for it.
The four experts will be appearing at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show (June 5-9). Tickets can be bought at rhs. org.uk/shows.