Wildlife-friendly plants

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Plant feature Wildlife-friendly plants

Nectar Bar

By Monty Don

At Berryfields, we have made what we called the Nectar Bar alongside our big pond. Butterflies are among the more beautiful visitors we hope to attract, but all nectar-drinking creatures are welcome here.

Any garden created for wildlife must offer an environment where the local ecology can feel at home. It's likely to include some grasses (beyond a neatly mown lawn) to provide seeds and pollen. It should also include a selection of umbellifers, such as angelica, fennel, chervil or dill - all of which are rich in nectar, and are particularly attractive to hoverflies and lacewings whose larvae, in turn, eat aphids.

Stinging nettles are essential food for the caterpillars of butterflies such as red admirals, tortoiseshells and peacocks, and therefore a must for every garden.

Designing your wildlife garden

When planting a nectar border or any selection of flowers to attract insects, think first of what's best for them and second, of what you want to look at. The two are not remotely exclusive of one another, but there are a few basic principles to bear in mind.

For instance, single-flowered plants are a good choice, because the design of these blooms makes it easier for insects to reach the nectar and pollen. Many double flowers are inaccessible to insects, or have low amounts of nectar and pollen, sometimes even none at all.

Year-round nectar

Although many insects are inactive in winter, some will still seek nectar late into the autumn, or on a warm spring day. Having a selection of plants flowering throughout the year can help ensure there are always nectar sources available.

We planted the Nectar Bar in autumn, with flowers such as buddleias, asters and sedums, to attract insects later in the season.

The perfect lawn may please the gardener, but is a desert for insects. So in front of the Bar we laid a strip of wildlife turf, which is enriched with dozens of wildflowers and nine different types of grass. We'll grow it long, then cut it, as we do the wildflower meadow, just twice a year.

Behind the Bar, we planted a mixed hedge of native species, which, as well as producing nectar, will shelter the plants and insects and provide nesting cover for the birds.

We used the following selection of plants in the Berryfields's Nectar Bar: