Why it’s a good idea to plant wildlife friendly plants
The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world and despite nature struggling against all odds to survive, more than one in seven native species face extinction and more than 40% are in decline.
WWF
Wildlife is in trouble, and it’s never been more important for us to take action for the environment so we can secure a liveable future for those we love and for all the plants and animals on earth.
We really need, as a whole, to re-wild as much land as possible to help species at risk to recover and to help with natural carbon capture, but this doesn’t just have to mean, for example, converting to a plant based food system which would free up approximately 70% of land currently used for farming to allow it to re-wild, though that is absolutely crucial.
The really great thing to keep in mind about the environmental crisis is that we can all help in small ways that, when multiplied by millions, add up to something incredible. When it comes to helping wildlife, even small changes make a huge difference for the beings who benefit from our action. One of the most beautiful things you can do on a personal level to help wildlife and ecosystems is something you can do in your own back garden! We can each re-wild part of our gardens or plant wildlife friendly plants in our gardens and local parks and public spaces.
You don’t have be a gardening expert to help!
If you’re thinking you’d like to have a go at planting some gorgeous wildlife friendly plants, but aren’t sure where to start, or are worried that you’re not a skilled gardener, don’t worry! There are loads of flowers that are super easy to grow in British gardens and will even re-seed themselves so that the following year you will have more flowers, for free, with minimal effort!
I don’t have loads of experience gardening, nor do I consider myself very knowledgable about it or very good at it, but I’ve had success growing a few select wildlife friendly garden beauties the past couple of years, and on a tight budget too, and I can assure you that it’s far less to do with my gardening skill than the strength of the plants and their eagerness to grow. With this in mind, I think I’m perfectly qualified to encourage even the most garden shy people to have a go at creating a little wildlife haven of their own. With spring approaching, it’s a great time to get exited about spending time in the garden, so I thought I’d share some of my favourite, easy to grow, minimal effort, nectar rich, wildlife friendly plants that are the first to bloom.
Mexican Daisies – Erigeron Karvinskianu
These are the sweetest small daisies that explode in the spring with gorgeous white flowers that fade to pink as they age, attracting bees and butterflies galore! They will bloom all the way through summer and autumn and often well into winter too, in sunny and shady spots. They stay quite close to the ground at around 30cm in height, so they look great at the front of a flower boarder.
As each flower looses its petals it forms a sweet puffball of seeds that the wind will blow into all the nooks and crannies of your garden, happily seeding into walls and steps, giving you even more flowers the following year and a gorgeous loose, country garden look which I love. I often harvest the seed balls, simply cutting with scissors, and pop them into a recycled jar to gift to friends.
These plants also spread outwards with their rhizomatous roots, so they will gradually creep around your garden that way too. If you enjoy a profusion of flowers and greenery in your garden beds, but are a super lazy gardener, then this is great option for you!
Foxgloves – Digitalis
Foxgloves are native British plants with the most beautiful structure and colour, loved by bumblebees, moths and honeybees. They can be found flowering in the wild between April and June in most corners of the UK, from woodlands and gardens, to moorlands, coastal cliffs, roadside verges and even waste ground. Each flower turns into a little seed pod which will eventually crumble allowing the seeds to fall to the ground and scatter in the wind, making this an excellent choice for a lazy gardener like me.
Each plant will last for 2 years, but the first year only a rosette of leaves will grow. The second year, the plant will shoot up several stems up to 1.5 meters tall, each with a collection of elegant bell shaped flowers. My favourites are the purple and white flowers that I see on the country walks near my house, and a particularly mesmerising delicate colour on the ‘Dalmatian Peach’ plant that you can find in most garden centres. If you’re working with a tight budget, I recommend harvesting the seed pods from any wild foxgloves you come across after flowing season, and then scattering them around your garden in sunny positions for them to the pop up over the next couple of years. This wont give you immediate flowers as you’ll need to wait for another year before those plants shoot up their flowering stems, but from then onwards your plants should start a magical cycle of reproduction that will mean you have gorgeous spring displays in your garden year after year with no additional effort besides, perhaps, repositioning small rosettes as they appear so that they sit at the back of your boarders to frame the shorter plants at the front. Again, these seeds make wonderful gifts to friends.
Oxeye Daisies – Leucanthemum Vulgare
I have had lots of success growing these native plants from seed and have placed them in a few locations of my garden at the middle and back of my narrow boarders, as they grow quite tall at up to 60cm in height. Once they’ve taken to their spot, the same plants will re-grown year after year and flower all spring and summer long! I’ve found that they grow perfectly well in sunny and shady spots of my gardens, so they are really adaptable. They are large daisies with big landing pads of yellow nectar that the pollinators adore, and which turn after flowering into hundreds of seeds that birds will enjoy. Each plant, incredibly, can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds! So these are another fabulous plant for seed sharing with friends or neighbours.
Butterflies, bees, beetles, moths, flies and ants are all fans of this beauty, and so am I! They look really gorgeous in combination with the smaller Mexican daisies in a flower bed for a striking display throughout summer, and they make a lovely addition to a grass meadow if you want to let part of your lawn grow. And they are more than just food for creepy crawlies – their young leaves can be added to a salad and their petals can be used to add decoration to a special dish.
Chives – Allium Schoenoprasum
Not only are these delicious added into salads, but if left to flower, chives look gorgeous in a flower boarder with their fluffy purple flowers, and they also happen to be a great source of food for pollinators, feeding bumblebees, honeybees, mason bees and leafcutter bees.
They spread gradually wider each year and grow to about 30cm in height, making them the perfect height for the middle of your flower boarder, and do best in a sunny spot or somewhere with shade for only half of the day. They flower from late spring to early summer, around the same time as foxgloves for a pretty country garden combination. As well as using the tasty leaves in your food, the edible flowers can be used as a garnish to add some pretty colour. Each flower head turns into a ball of seed at the end of the flowering season so you will find lots of baby chive plants pop up around the rest of your bed as the seed spreads, and as with the other plants mentioned here, you can collect seed and gift to friends.
I hope this has encouraged you to include some wildlife friendly plants in your garden, and would love to hear your tips if you’ve had some success with wildlife gardening!
Love, Victoria ♡
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