Flowering 365
At least one species of Bumblebee, the Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), is now active all winter with Queens produced in the summer creating nests in autumn. With the onset of climate change, the UK is experiencing milder and wetter winters, in turn allowing some plants to continue flowering or flowering earlier, providing food for the buff tail. Winter honeysuckle, mahonia, and hellebores are firm favourites. As a consequence, pollinators are on the wing year round and we can be there to lend a helping hand!
Year round blooms in the Flower Garden
In my Flower Garden, the deep borders are home to a wide range of plants, densely planted. So dense, that few weeds ever grow as they’re immediately crowded out. Flowering kicks off very early with wild primrose, snowdrops, and crocus, finishing late with the warmth loving Japanese anemones, dahlias, heleniums, and helianthus. As autumn gives way to winter, viburnum blossom, cyclamen coum, hellebores, and the beautifully perfumed winter honeysuckle provide more of the essentials to carry through to early spring.
For a garden in a temperate seasonal climate, this is all very intentional. At least one plant species (usually many more) will be in flower every week of the year. Late-flowering plants are especially valuable as they enable many species to fatten-up for winter hibernation or complete their lifecycle and lay eggs for the next generation. The early bloomers are equally vital. So many species overwinter in the garden, emerging on those sunny days in late winter and spring, utterly famished.
Plant diversity
Very few of the ornamental border plants are doubles. The exceptions are the English shrub roses and the peonies, but they are for me and my pleasure. Practically every other plant has been selected for its pollinator friendliness as much as its aesthetic beauty. I've learned to include plants with differing flower shapes, to suite a range of pollinators. There are a range of colours and flower structures from daisy-type and umbellifers, to tubulars and trumpets, most are rich in nectar and pollen. I think that’s a relatively good compromise especially when they’re so beautiful too. In my Flower Garden borders alone there are plenty of perennial pollinator power plants:
An array of spring bulbs (crocus, iris, muscari, narcissus, tulips, alliums, camassia), Achillea, Agastache, Ammi (annual), Cephalaria, Cosmos (annual), Dahlia (singles), Digitalis, Delphinium, Echinacea, Echinops, Eupatorium, Fennel (Bronze), Galega, Geranium (Hardy), Geum, Helenium, Helianthus, Knautia, Larkspur, Linaria, Lupin, Nepeta, Perovskia, Persicaria, Rambling rose, Rudbeckia, Salvia, Scabious, Valerian, Verbena, and Veronicastrum. Also birch, ornamental pear and cherry, lilac, winter honeysuckle, skimmia, sarcococca, and early flowering viburnums.
In the Courtyard Garden, there are more white-flowering bulbs plus Achillea, Agapanthus, Erysimum, Erigeron, Hellebore, Lavender, with the heavenly scented double narcissus, floaty Gaura, and of course the fragrant roses and peonies for yours truly. The wisteria is loved by all, bees and humans alike! It’s the same in both the Cottage Garden and Kitchen Garden where there’s always a mix of blooms to serve a variety of pollinators and, crucially as a gardener, I think most are beautiful, some… not so much.
Honestly, Tagetes, Calendula and Nasturtiums do not 'float my boat', but they’re planted en masse nonetheless, just for the pollinators (and as companion/sacrificial plants for the vegetables). Nasturtiums this year were literally sagging with the weight of bumblebees wriggling their way to the nectar. As I write, the Cutting Garden is full of seed-grown single dahlias and although the colours make me physically wince, they’re absolutely mobbed by bumblebees.
The mass of English Ivy climbing our trees and covering The Bank will soon be in flower and it will sound like a swarm, there are just so many bees! Thousands! I know many gardeners are desperate to tear it out, but Common Ivy, Hedera helix, is a phenomenal plant for bees, considering those autumn flowers are relatively inconspicuous. But they’re a valuable resource when many other plants are winding down. Ivy will feed honey bees, bumble bees, ivy bees (Colletes hederae), hover flies, and butterflies. Thrushes, blackcaps, woodpigeons and blackbirds will feed on the berries all winter.
The Flower Garden in high summer with heleniums, echinops, echinacea, fennel, Japanese anemones, hardy geraniums, rudbeckia, and salvias
Come one, come all.
Among all the plants I’ve mentioned, there’s a great deal of crossover with other winged pollinators like butterflies, moths, flies, and beetles. Achillea, Nepeta, Alliums, Lavender, Geraniums, Verbenas, Salvias and Agapanthus are all on the menu of the various garden butterflies and day-flying moths.
Nocturnal visitors require a slightly different menu, but a beautifully presented menu it is! Hesperis, Dianthus, the stunning Gladiolus murielae, Nicotiana, Honeysuckle, Trachelospermum jasminoides (Star Jasmine), Lillies, and Phlox. They all produce nectar, pollen and intoxicating fragrances, just later in the day, so they’re primed for moths. These plants are actually the perfect choice for wherever you choose to sit and soak up the last rays of sunshine or entertain into the night. As the sunlight falls, the nectar rises along with those incredible floral scents.
The Kitchen Garden beds planted with calendula, tagetes, and nasturtiums, along with sweat peas and lavender.
Productive pollinator patches
Pollinators play a crucial part in fertilising our crops. Generally speaking, fruits and (fruiting) vegetables require pollination. Some are ‘self-fertile’ meaning flowers can be fertilised by their own pollen. Most tomatoes, peas, and broad beans, for example, are self-fertile. Other crops like strawberries, raspberries, tree fruits, and the cucurbits (squash, melon, courgette) require ‘cross pollination’, the pollination of one flower by the pollen of another flower, whether it’s the same plant or a different plant of the same species.
The productive vegetable patch and pots of herbs are equally valuable real estate for pollinator friendly flowers. I’ve mentioned the classics, Tagetes, Calendula and Nasturtiums, but I also grow single Hebes (as hedging), Dahlias, Lavender, Nigella and Cosmos around the vegetable beds. Those culinary herbs are of enormous benefit too! The common species Mint, Thyme, Marjoram, Rosemary, Sage, and Chives are all adored by bees and butterflies. Just let them flower for a few weeks before pruning them back.
Blossom bonanza
From everything I’ve learned so far, plants with clusters of flowers offer the biggest hit for pollinators. That could be umbellifers or alliums as they have hundreds, if not thousands of tiny flowers all packed together. They maybe small, but it’s extremely energy efficient for winged insects to move between each flower just by crawling.
The same can be said for shrub and tree blossom, which I feel is often overlooked. A mature tree can have tens of thousands of individual flowers all within a quick buzz of each other. I have lots of cherries, ornamental weeping pears and elder (I'd like to add crab apples too). Birch trees and hazels add to the mix with their pollen rich catkins. At times, they have so much pollen, when the wind blows, you can see billowing clouds of it… a nightmare for my hayfever, but fascinating to watch.
For more pollinator friendly shrubs, take a look at these beauties: Lavender, Fuchsia, Daphne bholua, Hebe, Heather, Mahonia, Lilac (and Californian Lilac), Sarcococca, Skimmia, Hydrangea paniculata, Ribes laurifolium, Holly, Viburnum tinus, Pyracantha, Perovskia.
Lawn lovers look away
Another part of the garden, ripe with pollinator potential, is that lawn! Now this often divides gardeners like nothing else! Some aspire to have perfection. An immaculate lawn that could double as a snooker table. Others are happy to let it all go back to nature with dandelions, creeping buttercups, plantain, self heal and all. Couch grass, docks, bindweed? Oh yeh, bring it on!
Me? I’m somewhere in between. I’ve planted Crocus and Iris reticulata for spring colour and so the lawn is uncut from November to the end of May. Then it receives a few very light cuts, allowing clover, self heal, and yarrow to bloom along with self-sown pulmonaria. There’s plenty of moss too, but I’ll quickly gloss over that. I can’t quite tolerate creeping buttercup, not when it so readily bounds over the divide into the borders.
Coming up…
After bombarding you with this tome of a series, this next post is on the shorter side… relief all round!
So, next time we’ll take a look at the lessons I’ve learned in my garden and essentially some hard learned lessons to avoid.
We’ll also have a look at bee hotels… A wise investment or a potential death trap for bees!? Oooh!
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