Other plants that are good for wildlife.

I tend to think of bamboo and gorse as “big landscape” plants – the type that when densely planted provide important cover and a complete mini ecology, something that is potentially very valuable but difficult to reproduce effectively on a small scale such as in the average UK garden. One limitation of bamboo is its ‘flower, fruit then die’ habit which means they do not offer a regular pollen/nectar or fruit source for wildlife. Perhaps though the potential to support a high invertebrate burden might offset this, although that’s maybe something more suited to a larger rather than small garden.

Gorse is a fantastic cover plant as well as being a food source for at least three type of bumble bee and a number of seed eating birds. It does really need a very well drained position in full sun to thrive and a single plant may do little to support wildlife; for the right position though an informal hedge could work in a medium to large size garden – provided you’ve got access to body armour when it comes to pruning ! Western Gorse Ulex gallii is supposed to be dwarfing in habit but it can also grow up to 2 metres high – might worth trying for those with smaller gardens who are keen to see what value gorse might be.

As a general point I think that advice from Trusts and other organisations on plant choice for wildlife gardens has mostly been fairly simplistic, basically getting any plant that attracts bees, butterflies or birds is seen as a bonus. Of course faced with the alternative of monoculture grass, gravel, concrete and preserved wood deserts anything that has flowers is likely to be an improvement. This approach though doesn’t maximise the wildlife benefit which any individual garden could provide and I think more sophisticated approaches could greatly increase what can be achieved. Targeting species rather than just broad animal groups and looking at accommodating whole lifecycles rather than just providing seasonal food sources is perhaps the way to go.

One plant which has been a revelation, though only as food source, and at odds with my own simplistic ‘native is best’ approach, is Echium pininana, also called Giant Viper’s Bugloss , VB being its native relative. E. pininana is a native of the Canary Islands where it grows on arid slopes, surviving because the high rainfall, where it can reach a up to 6 metres tall which is an amazing feat for what is described as a Biennial. I grew some from seed expecting that they would not survive a Winter on my often very chilly garden, but two mild winters saw three plants make a metre and half in 18 months from seed, and then with the most extraordinary flower spike hit 4 metres this summer. Biennial isn’t exactly the correct description, the plant seems to need at least two full Winters before it will flower. The flower yield is tremendous and these are attractive to a range of both solitary and bumble bees, visitorship being equal to the best geranium species but lasting longer, and at over 2 metres each spike is an equivalent of at least 4 running metres of geraniums. The downside in bang for buck measures is that this a once every two year feast but on a space basis it’s very efficient given its vertical arrangement. In addition to bees it’s of interest to ants, aphids and moth larvae and large enough to support foraging birds. I’m unsure what it’s northern limit would be, wind rock could be a problem and for small garden it could be an all or nothing plant, but for a garden with a sheltered spot that gets some sun where a 4 metre giant wouldn’t be out of place, Echium pininana would be a bit of bee heaven.

Ivy - in large portions - growing thickly on a fence, or up a tree.

Alan it's Himalayan Honeysuckle, Leycesteria formosa. I've never particularly noticed butterflies attracted to it, but certainly some bumblebees + Blackbirds partial to the fruit.