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planted in my children's plots, complete with home-made plant supports. According to my children "when the beans grow they can use the wigwams too", because "you did say that sweet peas help to encourage the bees to pollinate them".The wigwams are both

for all the bumble bees in the area. Given that they're endangered, that must be a good thing.

flowers work wonders bringing in pollinators like bees, hoverflies and butterflies.Vic has told me to help myself to his sweet peas and I have - very freely! It's far better to keep picking them regularly than let them go to seed as they stop flowering

The plot is abuzz with wildlife, including ladybirds, lacewings, bumblebees and ground beetles. They're all marvellous for my crops; bees increase my yields by pollinating flowers, and ladybirds and lacewings eat a lot of aphids. As well

with sunbathing beasts: shieldbugs, spiders, ladybirds, bees, and two cats nestled in at the bottom. The newts have returned to the pond too; four of them were swimming about in there. These are the regular denizens of my garden, but two unusual visitors were a

displays on so many trees and shrubs, such as pieris. But with blossom on many fruit trees now at its peak, frost can kill flowers before bees have had a chance to pollinate them. When this happens the blossom will fall without developing any fruit

from every corner of the plot - far better than any show of wallflowers. They're also attracting bees and hoverflies, which is definitely a good thing, especially as there's not much else in flower on the plot at the moment. But they've got to go. I

accessible source of pollen for bees and hoverflies. If left into into winter, the papery brown seed heads look beautiful when covered in dense frost.Apart from the addition of extra grit to my heavy soil, keeping my alliums has been easy. Despite frequent

. bonariensis too, with bees and butterflies flitting from flower to flower all summer.I've spotted several local authorities using V. bonariensis in flower displays on roundabouts, so that's a sure endorsement of its reliability and performance

by this plant: on the surface it is an excellent idea - fast growing, popular with bees, long flowering (it will happily perform for months) and reliably tough in all situations. However, it is also as untameable as a coach load of Visigoths on the razzle