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marigolds, cosmos and agastache.Planted in one of the tree pits was some monarda, (commonly known as bee balm or bergamot). My partner hadn't seen these flowers before and the name was on the tip of my tongue. I smelled them to jog my memory and, instead

flower and patches of bare wall, I think about the ivy growing on the canal down the road. It's just coming into flower now, and is buzzing with the last of this year's hoverflies, bees and butterflies. Ivy would be a great choice for my garden - it

when I see it. Its bark is decorated with a thick crust of lichen, and lots of birds, especially thrushes, eat its fruit. It’s beautiful. Not only would my crab apple provide fruit for birds in winter, but its spring flowers would attract bees

, wild pear and buckthorn should cater for a wide range of species. A patch of long grass may encourage some species to breed, while a more relaxed attitude to 'pests' will go a long way to boosting caterpillar numbers in your garden.Moths, like bees

of lavender, covered with fat bumblebees and the odd butterfly.Honeysuckle, which I’ll train to grow up my house so, when I open the windows in summer, I can smell its sweet fragrance.A large patch of viper’s bugloss, one of the best plants for bees.I’ve never

of gardening is excellent. To this day, bumble and solitary bees nest in the nooks and crannies of the dry stone walls. Countless other insects and spiders also inhabit the rocks, and at lower altitudes, lizards take advantage of the warm, dry spaces concealed

feat for so late in the spring. To me, they represented the needs of both humans and wildlife - the blossom for bees, the fruit for us and the birds, and the bark and leaves for a myriad of moths and beetles as well as the species that eat them.If all

found on waste ground and railway embankments, and, of course, in gardens.My mum’s house was built on farmland in the 1930s. I often wonder how the area would have looked all those years ago, and sometimes imagine the ancestors of my mum’s bees, moths

, the lower the nutrient value of the lawn, the more wildflowers will grow in it.I love the idea of a new generation of garden lawn, one that’s full of flowers and alive with the buzzing of bees and other pollinators. But most of us have already got such a

, froghoppers, moths, butterflies and bees. (The frogs I rescued and brought in.) I’m determined to make sure my garden provides the perfect home for wildlife over winter, and if I have to compromise a little on aesthetics, so be it. I've already made