CREATE A BUZZ THIS SUMMER
Pollinators are under threat but there are plenty of ways to help
WHEN you have a spare moment, go into the garden, watch a bumble bee landing on a flower and feeding on its nectar before heading to the next bloom, carrying pollen as it goes.
This is how the cycle of plant life continues, but our pollinating insects are under threat. I heard Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at Sussex university and author of The Garden Jungle, recall at a recent talk how, when he was young, you would come back from a drive with insects splattered all over your windscreen. These days, the glass is clear.
In her book A flower Garden for Pollinators, which was published on Thursday, BBC Gardeners’ World presenter
Rachel de Thame warns that in the past 50 years, more than half of the bee species in the uK have declined dramatically. over the same period, there has been an 80 per cent drop in butterfly numbers and there are 40 per cent fewer moths.
RENEWED HOPE
BuT all is not lost. our gardens together make up thousands of
hectares of nature reserve and we can do plenty to encourage pollinating insects into them. Research by Great Dixter, in East Sussex, has shown cultivated plots are richer in wildlife diversity than the countryside.
‘Some people’s viewpoint is either you have a wildlifefriendly garden, or a beautiful, ornamental garden... I feel you can have both,’ says de Thame.
In her walled garden in the Cotswolds, she has taken a
relaxed approach to weeding, and filled it with plants that attract beneficial insects.
The first step towards an insect-friendly plot is to avoid herbicides and pesticides. We must tolerate some leaf damage by caterpillars that will turn into beautiful butterflies.
When choosing plants, go for a good proportion of straightforward species rather than just highly bred cultivars. Aim to have flowers in as many shapes and sizes as possible, and make room for some natives. Layer plants by including trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs and annuals for the maximum possible flower count.
Plant generous amounts of the same species, so if insects have travelled a long way to feed on a particular plant, it won’t be a wasted journey.
GO WILD
LEAVE parts of your garden to grow wild to provide food and shelter for pollinators. If you can, add a pond or create a cool and damp spot. Bees and wasps can drink from a water source, and bees use mud to plug their egg-laying chamber entrance.
Think about having plants for pollinators in every season.
In spring you could include primroses, pulmonaria and purple alliums. for summer, try red valerian, Mexican fleabane, wild carrot ‘Dara’, foxgloves, hollyhocks, and English lavender ‘Hidcote’.
Zinnias, stonecrop, Michaelmas daisies and Japanese anemones are all sources of nectar and pollen in autumn.
Even in winter the occasional bee will emerge from its hive and be grateful for snowdrops, hellebores, winter aconite and
‘freckles’.