Make your garden a hive of activity

By Bunny Guinness

 
I spent last weekend ripping out shrubs I have lived with for too long. Being a relatively new beekeeper, I find that replacing them with plants that are not only more exciting but more bee and butterfly friendly, makes much more sense.

Colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon where worker bees from a beehive colony abruptly disappear, is a big concern. John Salt, a member of beekeepers Moray Bee Dinosaurs (www.moraybeedinosaurs.co.uk) told me about the loss of 11,500 hives in Germany in 2009 following the drilling of a maize crop.

The maize seeds were dressed with a neonicotinoid seed dressing and as they were “blown” via a seed drill into the ground, the dressing settled on wild plants far and wide. The hives declined and it is thought that this group of chemicals weakens a bee’s immune system and so they succumb to all sorts of problems. Even with strict regulations, we still don’t always understand the awful things pesticides can be capable of.

It is generally thought that urban bees are doing better than their country cousins. Maybe it’s less insecticide, but they have access to a wider range of food plants from a multitude of gardens.

Butterflies too seem to be having a hard time of it. Although this spring numbers are improving, it appears there are very few tortoiseshells, red admirals, and painted ladies around.

I commonly see buddleias bare of butterflies, whereas as a child I could barely see the bush for butterflies. Gardeners can help by creating sheltered, protected spaces burgeoning with a wide variety of food plants.

Our bee buddy, Richard Davies, a committee member from Peterborough and District Bee Keepers Association, helped me to choose plants to boost flower levels now so that the bees can gather nectar and pollen to increase their reserves for winter.

I have put in Perovskia 'Blue Spire’; their airy spires of blue flowers look fabulous under-planted with Erigeron karvinskianus, low-level daisies that flower for most of the year.

Different bee and butterfly species have different length tongues and that helps determine which plants they can feed on.

The white willow herb is popular with the bees, butterflies and me. It does not set seed (like the common pink form) and flowers for several months. I increase it by taking cuttings and its flowers lift lightly shaded borders dramatically.

Borage is always buzzing and can be in flower from May to October. Phlox, hollyhocks, kniphofia and cosmos provide fresh, late colour as well as nectar for my friends.

Richard pointed out that my bees will fly anytime it is 54F (12C) or warmer to excrete and top up on nectar. It’s likely you may get suitable temperatures in November or even December, so planting really late flowerers, such as the mature form of ivy with its nectar rich flowers, in winter is important too.

Cabbage growers are pleased with the lower levels of cabbage white butterfly this summer, but there are also whites that don’t feed on our veg patch, such as the green veined white. Adding nasturtiums to your plot deflects their attention and adds colour.

Dr Martin Warren, chief executive of Butterfly Conservation (www. butterfly-conservation.org), advocates pruning buddleias later in the year, around March, which delays flowering. It might be worth cutting some stems back as late as early May, by about one third, to protract their flowering period further.

Butterfly Conservation has helpfully carried out a survey to find the most popular butterfly plants in our gardens.

This list includes favourites such as sedums, lavenders, origanum (I have only recently cottoned on to Origanum laevigatum), French marigolds (Tagetes patula) and Michaelmas daisies.

Variety is the spice of life for butterflies so try to grow a wide range to appeal to a good, catholic mix.

Bunny’s top five plants for bees and late summer colour
Lavender
Phlox
Borage
Epilobium angustifolium var. album
Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Blue Spire’

Telegraph