With the warm Autumn weather there are still many bees and butterflies on the wing and they all need food. In the Summer there are many flowers rich in nectar but not so many now. This is where a garden can be very helpful. In our Wildlife Garden there are still colourful flowers which also give lots of nectar, and these need not be native plants. In fact the best at the moment is Verbena bonariensis, from Buenos Aires as the Latin name says, but still loved by our bees.
And this weekend there have been butterflies as well, with Comma and Red Admiral on these flowers. Recently we have also had Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Painted Lady.
A garden with nectar rich flowers can be wonderful for the insects as there is so little natural food with only ivy giving a reliable show of flowers this late in the year. It is helpful to let ivy grow bushy so that the flowers are produced and not to trim it too close to the wall or fence.
For more information on butterflies follow this link.
Peter