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Here is a question for you all - what are your favourite summer blooms and what plants do you find best for wildlife?
If you care to answer this through the medium of pictures of plants from your gardens then please go ahead, just make sure they are your own!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Sorry for the delay, life got in the way & a broken elbow too! Most of the tubes are open but a couple seem to have leaves still in them.
I have a big garden and it's sort of sectored off and each area is very different but the common theme is I plant for masses of colour, nectar and scent and to really draw the insects and in turn the birds. I plant a lot of things and leave the fruit and seeds on the heads for the birds to eat and particularly popular are thistles, catoneaster, blackcurrants and sunflowers but really in my opinion it's about just getting as much variety as possible and providing a good mixed environment. I leave stuff like leaf litter and twigs and stuff on the ground so there's good places for insects and hedgehogs. I don't faff about with the lawned areas either and deliberately leave in things like daisies and dandelions because again they produce nectar and scent and attract insects.
In the wooded area I just leave the grass long and this time of year it's a mass of snowdrops... later on it will be crocuses, daffodils and then bluebells.
I tend to put things close to pathways and edges that smell nice... so lavendar and I plant a lot of herbs at the front of the borders; stuff like thyme, majoram and oregano is both decorative and really nice aroma and ground covering to block out weeds. So I just crowd stuff in and don't fuss too much about having things all pristine. I call it the "riot of colour and smells like a whores handbag!" effect!
A bird in the hand can make an awful mess!
budlia is always a favourite for the butterflies and bees ...i found bronze fennel absolutely brilliant for all kinds of insects ...thyme,chives and rosemary for teeny tiny bees ...im missing summer now
Borage and cosmos are fantastic for bees. The Cosmos will go on right to the first frosts providing valuable late nectar. They are pretty rain resistant too as proved last year. Dead head regularly and talk to the bees as you do it! Both borage and cosmos come easily from packet of seeds.
lol, Jane Eyre! I do that as well, as I'm dead-heading! I explain that I'm not pinching their flowers, just making more! Glad I'm not the only fruit and nut case!
I have a small rock garden which provides for bees and insects through nine months or more . This is in July when the spring flowering plants are over and the sedum, gentians and later plants are still to come. The hebes are always popular with bees and just behind me is a buddleja in the ground and two dwarf ones in pots on a tiny patio with a bench. I like to sit there on sunny evenings with a cup of tea or glass of wine and listen to the insects.
EDIT - looks like the photo's gone awol even though uploaded appeared. I'll try again.
OK - it just won't do it. It will if I use attach file but not to insert image. I give up!
OK - this time it worked