A garden that feeds wildlife all year
A garden does more for wildlife when it is generous for longer rather than wilder. A wildflower patch that flowers for three weeks feeds an insect for three weeks. A border with something in flower from February to November feeds it all year. Single flowers beat doubles, because many double blooms carry little or no nectar.
The other half is shelter and water: a shallow dish with a stone in it, a log pile in a corner, seed heads left standing over winter, and a gap under the fence so hedgehogs can move between gardens.
Pollinator garden
Plant in succession so there is never a hungry week. Hellebore and pulmonaria open the year. Comfrey and borage follow, then lavender, salvia, echinacea, single dahlias and sedum carry the summer. Ivy flowers into late autumn, when very little else does.
Plant in clumps rather than one of everything, because a bee finds a group of the same flower far faster than a single plant standing alone. Leave a few herbs to flower instead of cutting them for the kitchen, and keep pesticides out of the garden. A spray used weeks ago still leaves a residue on leaves and flowers.
Bee friendly garden
Most bees in a British garden are solitary species, not honeybees, and they nest in bare ground, old mortar and hollow stems. A bee hotel with fixed tubes that nobody cleans becomes a store for disease. If you buy one, choose a model with removable tubes and replace them.
Flowers matter more than nesting sites. Open single centres give a bee somewhere to land, and clumps at different heights suit short tongued and long tongued species alike. Hawthorn, willow, fruit blossom and ivy are the heavy lifters through the year.
Laying out a wildlife garden
Design the structure first: a hedge or trees for cover and nesting, water, a log pile, and a rough corner left alone. Then plant the flowering succession around it. A wildlife garden with nowhere to shelter is a feeding station rather than a habitat.
It still has to work for people. Keep the paths, the lawn and the seat where you use them, so the wild area reads as part of the layout. Mowing less is the cheapest change of all: long grass left over winter shelters insects and feeds seed eating birds. Our garden design service plans this in from the start, and the RSPB has more on planting for birds and insects.
Trees that carry the most insect life
Native trees carry far more insect life than most ornamental ones, and insects are what feed nestling birds. Hawthorn is the best all rounder for a small garden: it flowers in May, fruits in autumn and makes dense nesting cover. Hazel gives catkins early and nuts later. Rowan feeds pollinators and then thrushes with its berries. Crab apple does all three jobs in a small space.
These are also the trees that suit a small plot, which our page on trees for small gardens sets out tree by tree. Planting in autumn or winter, while the tree is dormant, gets it away to the best start.
Hedge design
A hedge earns its place three times over: nesting cover in spring, a corridor for wildlife to move along, and berries or nuts in autumn. A mixed native hedge of hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, field maple and dogwood does more than a single species, and it keeps more leaves low down if the top is trimmed narrower than the base, so light reaches the lower branches.
Cutting timing matters more than anything else in a wildlife garden. Wild birds are protected while a nest is in use, from March to August, so hedge cutting is done in late winter before nesting starts, or after August once the young have flown. One cut a year suits most hedges and leaves the flowers and berries that insects and birds need. Ivy on a wall or a tree is one of the best wildlife plants there is: leave it unless it is pulling out mortar or blocking light.
Questions about this guide
- What should I plant for bees?
- Plant for a long season rather than a single moment. Pulmonaria and hellebore in early spring, comfrey, borage and salvia in early summer, lavender, echinacea, single dahlias and sedum in high summer, then ivy and teasel into autumn.
- When can I cut a hedge without disturbing nesting birds?
- Wild birds, their nests and their eggs are protected while the nest is in use, which usually means March to August. Cut hedges in late winter before nesting starts, or after August once the young have flown, and look for nests before you start.
- Do I need a pond to attract wildlife?
- A pond brings in more species than any other single feature, but it is not the only option. A shallow dish of water, refilled often and with a stone for insects to climb out on, will bring in birds and bees on its own.
- How do I keep a wildlife garden looking tidy?
- Give it edges. A mown path, a clipped boundary and a clear view from the kitchen window make a rough area read as deliberate, and the wild part works better when it has a shape around it. Leave seed heads standing through winter and cut them back in early spring.
- Should I take the ivy off my tree?
- Usually not. Ivy flowers late and fruits in spring, and it shelters birds and insects through the winter without harming a healthy tree. Take it off where it is pulling mortar from a wall, swamping a young tree, or hiding a defect you need to see. Large removals and anything high are tree surgery work.
Need this done in your garden?
The practice prunes fruit trees and garden trees across North Yorkshire and County Durham. Tree surgery, including removal and stump grinding, goes to Ross Webster Tree Services. Their contact details are on their own site.