This week, I had chance to drop in for a short while to the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley in Surrey, their flagship garden.
Indulging my fascination for which plants work best for wildlife, I always like to pop down to the trial beds, because there you get to see lots of types of a particular kind of plant and compare them in action.
One of the trials underway at the moment is of 'pot mums' - bushy, flower-filled chrysanthemums.
They come in pinks and yellows, whites and salmons...
...and although not to my taste, they certainly do put on something of a show:
The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted something in the middle of the second photo. Let's zoom in:
Yes, it has been a good autumn in many parts of the country for the Red Admiral, and he was having a wonderful time supping at this pot mum.
And so were some Honeybees, a hoverfly, and this Small Copper:
This 'magic mum' is a variety called 'Shepherd'.
But you know what? I couldn't find a single insect on any of the other pot mums. They are just too heavily selected, with all the extra petals removing all the yummy goodness; only this almost single-flowered variety has got anything of value left for pollinating insects.
It is all very clever how plant breeding can end up with something like this:
...but it might as well be tennis balls as far as wildlife is concerned (and is a load of tennis balls in my view, too).
It is another of those lessons to choose carefully when picking plants - some look great and are great for wildlife, but so many are duffers.
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw