Gardens are spaces where we expect to sit out on a lounger, ice cream in hand, and watch as the wasps and bees start to swarm round for a taste of the sugar! But in recent years, these close-contact experiences with all manner of flying insects just don’t seem to be happening as often as they used to.
And that’s not only because of global issues like climate change, or national regulations that let harmful pesticides be used up and down the country. It’s also down to the way your garden is designed too! After all, if you like a nice, neat, and orderly landscape, with just one or two plant types, there’s nothing around for the bugs to be attracted by!
So it’s time for a change! If you want to attract a bit more wildlife to your garden this summer, get planting with the seeds and saplings down below.
Sunflowers
They’re not just the poster child of summertime flowers because they look like the sun! They’re also very insect friendly, especially when it comes to bees and other pollinators.
Geraniums
Geraniums are very colourful flowers that tend to max out on the available space you have, which makes growing a crop of them within your garden very easy to do.
They also happen to be extremely insect friendly for a variety of different species, so that’s a great two in one for a low effort garden too!
Trees!
Perfect for birds and squirrels and all manner of smaller critters, trees are always going to be a very wildlife-friendly type of plant to have growing in your garden. After all, the taller they get, the more ‘real estate’ they provide for nesting.
At the same time, they also offer much more of a canopy for anything on the ground, which means less predation from wildlife circling up above, and much more shade and cooling for the soil down below.
But what trees are best for wildlife? Here’s a few that you can get started in a patch of soil out back:
- Oak
- Holly
- Rowan
- Hazel
- Fruit trees (particularly apple and cherry varieties)
Of course, any trees that have overgrown their patch might just start rooting out other trees that you’re trying to encourage to grow.
And when that happens, you’re going to want to invest in a quality tree removal to get rid of the dead weight, invasive roots, and fanning branches that overhang into next door’s garden as well!
Lavender
They don’t only smell wonderful, and bring an amazing purple hue to the low lines of the garden walls, fences, and planter boxes you’ve got set up, but they’re also one of the best nectar producers in the entire flora kingdom!
If you want to attract more wildlife to your garden, make sure you plant some of the flowers and trees above and let them get to work. And remember, the more diversity you have in your garden, the more insect-friendly it will become!
