Q Which three must-have plants will attract wildlife?
Elliot Lane, West Yorkshire
A CHRISTINE SAYS You say you want a plant, a shrub and a tree for your small garden. It’s easy to provide suitable plants for the main growing season as most of us grow such a diversity of plants that there will be something for wildlife to feed on.
However, it’s the early season that is sparse for food, so to attract pollinators, go for Eranthis hyemalis, the winter aconites, whose yellow flowers produce such a cheerful sight in January and February. For a tree, any of the small sorbus trees will provide berries for birds, as well as insects for birds to feed on. For example, in spring, S. ‘Joseph Rock’ produces creamy yellow fruits that ripen to a pale orange-yellow and it makes a great small-garden tree.
The dwarf guelder rose, Viburnum opulus ‘Compactum’, is a dense bushy shrub up to 1.5m tall with bright-red fruits and good autumn colour. I would avoid any plant with double flowers.
A BOB SAYS Native plants benefit our native fauna most of all. Sadly, trees such as oaks, willows and birches soon grow too large for a small garden, although these can be coppiced each winter to keep them compact without losing much wildlife value, especially if you then use the trimmings as a ‘hibernation hotel’ for bugs.
Shrubs such as blackberry, sloe, quickthorn and elderberry can also be cut back hard each year to keep them smaller. However, allowing these to grow on to flower and fruit will help even more tiny creatures, and feed birds. Evergreens have special value, so plant holly, and encourage ivy to flower and fruit as this is beneficial to many critters. At ground level, go for arums and violets in shady areas, and grow knapweeds, red and white deadnettles and dandelions in sunny spots.