There are some very good and very imaginative Towns and Parks authorities out there who do the best they can with cash-strapped budgets and all the other pressures they are under to try and give wildlife a home at the same time as creating attractive looking bedding schemes.
And I'm lucky enough to regularly see the efforts put in by Brighton & Hove. I give them my own little virtual 'Gold Medal' for what they have achieved in one of the busiest city centre open spaces this year.
It is called The Steine and is an area heavily used by people at all hours of day - and night! =The gardeners have to cope with a myriad of discarded bottles flung in the beds and the aftermath of late night revelries in which some people seem to have taken the term 'bed' in flowerbed' quite literally.
But undeterred the garden designers have gone for a bold bedding scheme this year which has been fantastic for a couple of species of bumblebee and for Honeybees.
It is a fairly unabashed riot of colour, primarily composed of single-flowered dahlias, rudbeckias, single-flowered tagetes, plus Verbena bonariensis wafting away over the top.
It is the dahlias and the Verbena that are the real bee magnets, but the tagetes has been playing its part for the insect communities too.
I remain disappointed with the rudbeckias - I tried Rudbeckia 'Toto' a couple of years ago and not a single insect visited that I observed, and I suspect that some of the Rudbeckia cultivars have been pushed or hybridised so far that they've lost their nectar or pollen or both.
But as a demonstration of growing a home for nature, I remain very impressed.
Have you got some local council or community planting near you which has been a success for wildlife this year? I'd love to hear.
Our Council have done a fantastic job this year. All the flowers used in their planting schemes are beneficial to insects and they still look stunning. They have reduced the number of times the verges are cut allowing wild flowers to flourish.
The hedges planted around new builds are mixed native hedges and all newly planted trees are wildlife friendly too.
Teignbridge district council definitely get a gold medal from me.
Hi Taffy2
Delighted to hear that Alcester are really leading by example (not too far from my original neck of the woods either). Agree with you hugely about the public backing too - I'll see what I can do
Our town council in Alcester stated this year that they intend to become the most bee-friendly town in the county! The first area they sowed with seed has been very successful, attracting good numbers of bees and butterflies, and looking really beautiful. Some folk were quite sceptical, I believe, but hopefully they are now convinced and will take it further. If anyone feels like dropping them a mail of encouragement, please do! Public backing is so important in these situations!